Output details

Predicting the effect of temperature on the performance of elastomer-based rail damping devices

Significance of output:

Railway noise affects 2-4% of the population. The conventional solutions, noise barriers, are visually intrusive and expensive: typically £0.5-1M/km. The authors have developed and patented a rail damper with Tata Steel which can be used in place of noise barriers. To date 150 km of track have been fitted worldwide with overall sales worth £16M. The rail damper uses a high damping rubber with strongly temperature dependent behaviour. The study led to new rubber compounds that extend the applicability of these novel dampers to situations with a wider range of temperatures. Collaboration with TARRC/Malaysian Rubber Board and Tata Steel (david.benton@tatasteel.com).