During the last decades completely new technologies for high speed railway vehicles have been developed. The primary goals have been to increase traction, axle load, and travelling speed, and to guarantee the safety of the passengers. However, new developments have revealed new limitations: settlement and destruction of the ballast and the subgrade lead to deterioration of the track; irregular wear of the wheels causes an increase in overall load and deterioration in passenger comfort; and damage of the running surfaces of the rail and the wheel is becoming more frequent. These problems have been investigated in the Priority Programme SPP 1015 supported by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG), with the goal of better understanding of the dynamic interaction of vehicle and track, and the long-term behavior of the components of the system. The book contains the scientific results of the programme as presented at the concluding colloquium held at University of Stuttgart, Germany, 2002.

The 18th Symposium of the International Association for Vehicle System Dynamics was held at Kanagawa Institute of Technology, Atsugi, Kanagawa, Japan. The symposium was hosted by KAIT as one of the memorial events of the 40th anniversary of KAIT. Though overwhelming numbers of high quality papers were applied in response to the call for papers for the presentation at the symposium, the Scientific Committee accepted 89 papers for the oral presentation and 38 for the poster presentation. Finally, 82 papers were presented at the oral sessions and 29 papers at the poster sessions in the symposium. There were five States-of-the-Arts papers presented at the plenary sessions in the symposium.

Acoustics is the science concerned with the production, control, transmission, reception, and effects of sound. Its origins began with the study of mechanical vibrations and the radiation of these vibrations through mechanical waves, and still continue today. Research was done to look into the many aspects of the fundamental physical processes involved in waves and sound and into possible applications of these processes in modern life. The study of sound waves also leads to physical principles that can be applied to the study of all waves. The broad scope of acoustics as an area of interest and endeavour can be ascribed to a variety of reasons. First, there is the ubiquitous nature of mechanical radiation, generated by natural causes and by human activity. Then, there is the existence of the sensation of hearing, of the human vocal ability, of communication via sound, along with the variety of psychological influences sound has on those who hear it. Such areas as speech, music, sound recording and reproduction.

This book systematically presents the theory, numerical implementation, field experiments and practical engineering applications of the ‘Vehicle–Track Coupled Dynamics’. Representing a radical departure from classic vehicle system dynamics and track dynamics, the vehicle–track coupled dynamics theory considers the vehicle and track as one interactive and integrated system coupled through wheel–rail interaction. This new theory enables a more comprehensive and accurate solution to the train–track dynamic interaction problem which is a fundamental and important research topic in railway transportation system, especially for the rapidly developed high-speed and heavy-haul railways. It has been widely applied in practical railway engineering. Dr. Wanming Zhai is a Chair Professor of Railway Engineering at Southwest Jiaotong University, where he is also chairman of the Academic Committee and Director of the Train and Track Research Institute. He is a member of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and one of the leading scientists in railway system dynamics. Professor Zhai is Editor-in-Chief of both the International Journal of Rail Transportation, published by Taylor & Francis Group, and the Journal of Modern Transportation, published by Springer. In addition, he is a trustee of the International Association for Vehicle System Dynamics, Vice President of the Chinese Society of Theoretical and Applied Mechanics, and Vice President of the Chinese Society for Vibration Engineering. /div

Detailing the proceedings of the Wave 2002 workshop at Okayama University in Japan, this collection of eighteen peer-reviewed papers concerns the issue of the ground vibration and noise caused by construction activities, explosions in the ground, or high-speed trains. Providing key information for engineers, researchers, scientists, practitioners, teachers and students working in the field of structural dynamics or soil dynamics, this text also includes a useful address list in the appendix to enable readers to gather further information if required.

Understanding the dynamics of railway vehicles, and indeed of the entire vehicle-track system, is critical to ensuring safe and economical operation of modern railways. As the challenges of higher speed and higher loads with very high levels of safety require ever more innovative engineering solutions, better understanding of the technical issues a

A proper quality of a track and other infrastructure objects represents a basic requirement for train safety and punctuality. Most of the physical systems and their components deteriorate over time. This affects performance and may lead to failures. Albert Einstein said, “You have to learn the rules of the game. And then you have to play better than anyone else.” Only if we understand how the whole system works, taking into account its imperfections and how they influence its quality and performance will we be able to learn the rules of the game and “play better.” The book provides the readers with the necessary functional knowledge of track behaviour and comprehensively covers the function of the various track components, their interaction as elements of the track system, as well as the interaction of the track with railway vehicles. By presenting important tools for a deep understanding of track-behaviour this book aims to be a reference guide for infrastructure managers and to help them to find ways improving track quality for optimum long-term behaviour.