Wheel–rail dynamic interaction due to rail weld irregularity in high-speed railways

Rail weld geometry irregularity is one of the main excitation sources for vehicle–track coupled dynamic system, and it has a direct effect on the wheel–rail dynamic interactions, which are responsible further for the wheel–rail noise, railway component damages, and track deteriorations. In many previous studies, the rail weld irregularity was usually modeled as a single or composite concave cosine wave based on field investigations on traditional railway lines or researchers’ experiences. These investigations were mainly concentrated on the maximum value of the rail weld irregularity. However, the geometrical shape was usually ignored. In this paper, a series of rail weld irregularities measured on Beijing–Shanghai high-speed railway passenger-dedicated line in China are presented. Based on the analysis of the measured rail surface geometry in the weld zones, some typical theoretical models of the rail weld irregularity are established. Then, the effectiveness of the established rail weld irregularity mod...