SOUND TRANSMISSION THROUGH A HIGH-SPEED

TRAIN ROOF
Ulf Orrenius
Bombardier Transportation, Specialist Engineering & Center of Competence Acoustics,
PGR/TSSV, SE – 721 73 Västerås, Sweden, ulf.orrenius@se.transport.bombardier.com
Hans Kunkell1
MWL, Kungliga Tekniska Högskolan, Teknikringen 8, SE-100 44, Stockholm, Sweden.
Low internal noise in train carriages is of great importance to the comfort of the passengers,
and accordingly also for train manufacturers and operators who want to keep a comfort advantage
in relation to other means of transportation. With increased speed the aerodynamic noise becomes
an important contributor. Here a train roof section is studied containing a recess where a pantograph
is mounted. Significant excitation is present both from aerodynamic forces directly acting on the
roof as well as forces transmitted via the pantograph structure and the power input to the compart-
ment is studied for speeds up to 350 km/h. The train roof was modeled using a hybrid FE-SEA ap-
proach with input excitation data from transient and compressible CFD calculations as well as from
measured structural forces from a full scale wind tunnel test. For reference, turbulent boundary
layer (TBL) excitation was studied using a Corcos model. For the transmission model the outer roof
structure is described by FE whereas the interior parts are represented by statistical subsystems.
Experimental validation of the approach was made on an existing train. The result indicates that for
the configuration and sources analysed the contributions to the interior noise from all three sources
analysed are significant. Ranking of transmission paths into the train interior and perspectives for
application of such models for parametric studies of design parameters are discussed.

1. Introduction
In the last few years the interest for very high-speed operation of passenger trains has signifi-
cantly increased. From society perspective an important driver is the insight that air travel needs to
be reduced due to environmental constraints. Another driver is simply lack of space for new airports
and highways in densely populated areas. High-speed train operation is in this respect very effective
in view of the potentially very high passenger density on a railway line.
With higher operational speeds the dominating mechanisms for interior noise is shifting from
those originating from the wheel rail-contact to sources with aerodynamic origin. The transition
speed, for which the aerodynamic noise becomes larger than the rolling noise, is around 300 km/h
[1,2], but naturally depends on rail quality and the aerodynamic design of the vehicle exterior.
Typically, aerodynamic noise becomes important for interior noise at lower speeds than for ex-
terior noise, particularly so in compartments close to aerodynamic noise sources. Predominantly,
aerodynamic sources for rail vehicles are due to vortex shedding rather than boundary layer noise,
which typically dominate aircraft interior noise. Such vortex generated sources are difficult to char-
1
Present address: Swedish Materiel Defense Administration, SE-115 88, Sweden, hans.kunkell@fmv.se

ICSV18, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, 10-14 July 2011 1

18th International Congress on Sound and Vibration, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, 10-14 July 2011

acterize without a thorough analysis of the flow field and its interaction with the detailed geome-
tries, and therefore great interest is taken in computational fluid dynamics (CFD) as a means to pre-
dict the wall pressure field and the exciting forces associated [3,4].
One important aerodynamic noise source is the pantograph and any roof recess where it is
mounted. The interior noise generated is predominantly from the pressure fluctuations on the roof
structure due to vortex shedding from the flow across the recess and around the pantograph, but also
from roof vibrations induced from the aero-acoustical excitation of the pantograph structure itself.
Sound sources of similar character are generated by, for example, air-craft landing gear [5] and
side-mirrors on cars [4].
Compared to other aerodynamic source mechanisms, such as turbulent boundary layer (TBL)
noise, not much work has previously been done to calculate interior vehicle noise due of vortex
generated sound. One explanation is that the means to calculate the flow field time histories have
not been available until recent development of computational fluid dynamics (CFD) technology. In
addition, other sources than those related to vortex shedding have been more important, for example
the engine noise of landing aircraft, but recent development in reducing such sources have increased
the focus of vortex generated sound.

2. Method
In this project the coupled FE-SEA method is used, which can be viewed as an extension of
standard Statistical Energy Analysis (SEA) [6]. In a system model both deterministic and statistical
sub-systems can be coupled to each other at their boundaries. Each SEA subsystem is described in
terms of a direct field and a reverberant field. A simple reciprocity relationship between the direct
field impedance of a connection to an SEA subsystem, and the ensemble average blocked force on
the connection due to the presence of a reverberant field within the subsystem has been derived [7].
Using this relationship it is possible to calculate the coupling loss factors which describe the flow of
energy between a number of SEA subsystems coupled by an arbitrary number of deterministic sub-
systems [8]. By writing a set of power balance equations for the SEA subsystems it is then possible
to calculate the coupled response of the system when excited by spatially distributed random excita-
tion. Furthermore, it is possible to post process the results to determine the ensemble average cross-
spectral response of both the FE and SEA subsystems which for a deterministic subsystem can be
written [8],

,
where the blocked force from a coupled statistical subsystem m is taken to be proportional to the
imaginary part of the direct field stiffness .
Several papers are available in the literature on validation and application of the coupled FE-
SEA method for model structures of beams, plates and cavities, see [9-10], but also for more com-
plex automotive, train, aircraft and space structures [11-17]. The method is also implemented in a
commercial software [18].

3. Modelling
3.1 Strategy and Workflow
Working with hybrid FE-SEA models involves several different steps. First step is to partition
the physical system into FE and SEA subsystems. If the starting point is an existing FE model, SEA
subsystems such as trim are added and coupled to neighbouring subsystems. Typically the choice of
SEA versus FE is determined from the wavelength in relation to physical size of the struc-
ture/cavity. Modal analysis is performed for the FE parts and the calculated modes are imported.
Acoustic and structural loads are then added and the model is “solved”, meaning that the coupling
 18th International Congress on Sound and Vibration, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, 10-14 July 2011

factors between SEA and FE subsystems, as well as the response parameters are determined. A
schematic view of this workflow is shown in Figure 1. A more general workflow scheme is pre-
sented in reference [8, p. 43].

Figure 1. Left: Workflow for a coupled FE-SEA analysis. Right: Transmission model for roof structure.

The roof sketch displayed in Figure 1, consists of mainly three coupled parts: outer roof (FE),
inner ceiling (SEA) and a cavity in-between (SEA). Vibrations due to external forces on the outer
roof will propagate through the subsystems into the compartment. One benefit of the addition of
SEA subsystems is that transfer path analysis with respect to energy flow can easily be undertaken.

3.2 Analysis of a regional train roof

To obtain modelling experience of train roof structures a model of a regional train roof was
created as depicted in Figure 2.

Figure 2. Left: FE-SEA model of regional train. The duct cavities and the roof spacing cavity are hidden.
AAA” is aluminium-air-aluminum sandwich, and ”APA” is aluminum-plywood-aluminum sandwich. Right:
Plywood core of the ceiling sandwich structure including rectangular cut-outs.

The lower cavity represents the compartment and was coupled to the inner ceiling and the FE
walls. The upper cavity represents the outside and was coupled to the roof. Generally, the alumi-
nium roof structure was modeled in FE whereas the interiors, including the fluid cavities, were
modeled using SEA subsystems. The inner ceiling was made from a sandwich consisting of 12 mm
plywood core with 1 mm aluminium faces. However, the core is not homogeneous but has a number
of rectangular ~0.4 x 0.4 m cut-outs where the ceiling essentially consists of an aluminium double
wall, see Figure 2 (right). As the first resonance frequency of the al panels of the cut-outs is quite
low, 45 Hz assuming simply-supported boundaries, it was decided to model all cut outs with one
single SEA system and the rest of the sandwich panel with another SEA subsystem. The con-

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18th International Congress on Sound and Vibration, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, 10-14 July 2011

strained air in the cut-out cavity was modelled as a linear spring [19]. In addition, SEA subsystems
representing the ventilation air-ducts were added.

Figure 3: Left: Passenger compartment excited with speaker. Right: CAD model of the regional train show-
ing interior ceiling including air-ducts (red), roof spacing and roof structure with melamine absorption slabs.

In Figure 4 calculated input powers via different paths into the roof cavity are displayed.
Missing data are due to too few modes in the band. Also, the calculated sound reduction index is
shown to match that measured according to ISO15186-2 by scanning of the outer roof with an in-
tensity probe while exciting the interior using an omnidirectional loudspeaker, see Figure 3 (left).
Transmission Loss

60

50
Reduction Index (dB)

40

30

20

10 R (VA1) R (meas)

0
0

00

00

00

00
10

16

25

40

63

10

16

25

40
Frequency (Hz)

Figure 4. Left: Transmitted powers into roof cavity. Solid black line, Total; Red line with boxes, Left duct;
Green line with circles, Right duct; Blue dashed line, Aluminium-Air-Aluminium (AAA); Black line with
diamonds, Aluminium-Plywood-Aluminium (APA). Right: measured and calculated sound reduction index.

Also, numerical validation was undertaken in which radiation from a rectangular panel was
analysed using coupled FE-SEA, coupled FE-BE and an analytical model[19]. The radiated powers
and modal radiation efficiencies from the FE-SEA model matched the analytical results quite well
while the CPU times needed were roughly one tenth of those for the FE-BE model.

3.3 High-speed roof analysis

3.3.1 Literature review
Few studies in this field are reported, partly due to confidentiality aspects. Experimental studies
of flow noise from pantograph and recess have been made by Noger et al [20] who visualized the
flow in the recess of a 1/7th scale mock-up of a TGV train. They concluded that the rear vertical
face of the recess is the most complex and turbulent region, and also the noisiest. An up-folded pan-
tograph was found to both increase the broadband noise and to generate tonal peaks. Further, con-
tributions from the pantograph to the interior noise on a Spanish high-speed train was studied by
Genescà et al [21]. To determine source powers to an SEA model, sound radiation was measured
using a microphone array during pass-by. Increased interior levels were found to be local to the area
below the pantograph, but no measured levels are presented.
 18th International Congress on Sound and Vibration, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, 10-14 July 2011

Landing gear noise on air-craft has similarities to the pantograph source with similar object size
and air speed (at landing air-craft). In reference [5] the different geometrical parts of a landing gear
are treated separately within a statistical system model aiming at source strength prediction.

3.3.2 Sources
The source mechanisms associated with interior pantograph noise is fairly complex. A brief
introduction to the mechanisms, and the modeling concepts applied here, is given below.
Structural excitation
The pantograph studied here is mounted in a roof recess via vibration isolators at three con-
nection points. Due to the aerodynamic forces and the contact with the electrical overhead line, vi-
brations are generated and transmitted through the struts and will finally introduce point forces on
the roof. The forces from the pantograph used in this work are from a wind tunnel measure-
ment [22] with operational pantograph (not folded) but without the influence of the overhead lines.
Even though the magnitude of these structure-borne forces can be reduced by using a stiffening
frame, such design modifications are not considered in the present study.

Figure 5. Left: Pantograph mounted in test section. Right: Sample octave-band sound map from array mea-
surements, centre frequency 4 kHz, dynamic range 30 dB, wind speed 280 km/h. From reference [22].
Cavity flow noise and associated pressure field
The complex flow pattern in the recess is shown in the sketch of Figure 6. The leading edge of
the open cavity will cause a sudden change to the airflow, with a turbulent zone developing (up-
stream mixing layer). It will reattach on the cavity bottom and divide: a fraction of the flow will re-
circulate upstream, another continues in the flow direction. At the trailing edge another mixing layer
and recirculation is formed.

Figure 6. Flow due to a recess. From reference [20].

Under certain circumstances this complicated flow can develop self-sustained high-pressure oscilla-
tions due to non-linear couplings [20]. The same reference also states that the largest noise contribu-
tor is at the rear surface, see "Downstream vortex" area in Figure 6.
The air-borne noise of the cavity increases by the uplifted pantograph [22]. Ideally, the flow
separation of the pantograph structure creates fluctuating forces perpendicular to the flow direction,
adding up to the total pressure field. Theoretically the rods of the pantograph can be seen as dipole

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18th International Congress on Sound and Vibration, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, 10-14 July 2011

sources with periodical vortex detachment at the Strouhal number St 0.2 with St=fL/U where U
is flow speed, f the frequency and L the characteristic object length.
3.3.3 FE-SEA model
Similar to the regional train a coupled FE-SEA model was created for the high-speed train
roof. In Figure 7 the model is displayed with the positions of the pantograph loads indicated as well
as the CFD mesh. In addition a coherence plot is shown illustrating the typical correlation length of
the calculated pressure field at 0.5 kHz. For the conversion of the CFD time-histories to the fre-
quency domain a balance between the number of averages and the frequency resolution has to be
sought in view of the limited time data available (ca 0.5 s). The CFD pressure field spectra were
then projected onto the modal basis, representing the FE part of the roof structure.

Figure 7. Left: FE-SEA model of high-speed roof. Right: Spatial coherence of recess pressure at 501 Hz
(10 Hz frequency resolution). Reference point is at x, y 1.1,0 m, and marked with a square.
For this construction the design of the interior ceiling is made in a flat thin GRP panel, thus
more suitable to SEA than the ceiling of the regional train. The roof spacing cavity is filled with an
absorbing material, here modelled according to Delaney and Bazley with the material described
simply by its flow resistivity and density [23].
Figure 8 shows the power input into the compartment for the three types of excitation: the
structural forces, the pressure field and the turbulent boundary layer (TBL).

Figure 8. Power radiated into the compartment at 350 km/h. Solid blue line, pantograph; red dashed
line, pressure; Green line with circles, TBL.

The CFD simulations did not take the pantograph into account. Based on cavity pressures
measured in the wind tunnel with pantograph up and down it is assumed that the up-folded panto-
 18th International Congress on Sound and Vibration, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, 10-14 July 2011

graph will increase the sound level by 6 dB. This correction is taken to be constant over the fre-
quency domain. The TBL excitation was determined using a Corcos model representation with:
separated flow; convection velocity U c 70 % of free stream velocity; spatial correlation decay
coefficients cx 0.1 and cy 0.72 ; and convection wave number as k x 1· / U c . The distance to
the leading edge was taken as 50 m. See reference [19] for details. The sound power determined in
this way was multiplied by a factor 5.6 corresponding to the ratio between the area of a segment of
the carbody with the width of the pantograph recess and that of the recess area itself, thus assuming
equal TBL excitation and transmission for all parts of the carbody. Most likely, this is a conserva-
tive rating as the recess structure is generally acoustically weaker than the rest of the train carbody.

4. Discussion of methodology
Combination of experimental data for the dynamic forces on the pantograph feet with pressure
data from compressible and non-stationary CFD is a practical approach that well serves its pur-
pose in view of the difficulty in predicting the dynamic forces. The calculations were carried out
at a speed of 350 km/h whereas the measurements were made at 280 km/h. The dynamic forces
were thus scaled according to the speed dependence determined at the measurements [19].
The CFD pressure data available were determined for the recess only without the pantograph.
To determine the effect of the uplifted pantograph a correction term was applied based on
measured wall pressure difference in the cavity with and without the uplifted pantograph. How-
ever, the spectral details were not considered for this correction which underestimates, e.g. the
tonality associated with Strouhal effects. Alternatively, CFD calculations with the uplifted pan-
tograph could have been used. In this case the pressure field would need to be complemented by
the acoustic excitation of the pantograph, e.g. by using of Lighthill‟s analogy [24].
The approach with projection of the CFD pressure field onto the modal basis of the FE structure
is potentially accurate but computationally expensive. An alternative is to use a statistical repre-
sentation of the pressure field similar to the Corcos model here applied for the TBL source [4].
The ceiling structure on the regional train used for experimental validation is more complex and
less suited for SEA than that of the high-speed train roof. Validation would be more complete
with structural vibration data and sound pressure in roof cavity.
A benefit of the coupled FE-SEA model is that parametric studies of the design of the ceiling
can readily be made without updating the FE model. Transmission path analysis is also straight-
forward with this modelling concept.

5. Conclusions
In the work presented here it is shown that it is possible to apply a calculated pressure field on
an FE mesh in a hybrid FE-SEA model to analyse interior sound levels and transmission paths. The
hybrid FE-SEA concept utilized effectively supports design changes and was validated using trans-
mission test data from loud speaker tests on a regional train as well as by numerical benchmarks.
A process in which experimental data from wind-tunnel tests are used to complement calcu-
lated data is applied and shown to be constructive for solving real industrial aero-acoustic problems.
Pressure fields for the recess of a high-speed train pantograph were calculated using transient, com-
pressible CFD and thereafter modified to account for effects of an uplifted pantograph using data
from full scale wind-tunnel tests. The pressure fields were applied to a high-speed train roof struc-
ture together with dynamic forces determined from wind tunnel measurements.
For the cases analysed, the interior noise contributions from the dynamic pantograph forces, the
pressure field and the TBL were all found to be of the same order of magnitude, although; because
of the complexity of the source description process, and various error sources, this result should be
viewed as approximate.

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18th International Congress on Sound and Vibration, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, 10-14 July 2011

6. Acknowledgements
The work presented has been carried out within the EU funded research project MidMod. The
support from the European Commission, grant agreement no. 218508, is gratefully acknowledged.

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