Join the Railway Technical Society of Australasia (RTSA), Qld Chapter, for a presentation (offered both in person in Brisbane and online as a webinar) on the prediction and mitigation of the noise phenomenon known as wheel squeal. Professor Paul Meehan will outline some of the recent research being undertaken in this area by the Rail Mechanics Group at The University of Queensland, Australia. In particular, recent results for the mechanisms, prediction, measurement and control of wheel squeal will be presented.

An overview of major results in prediction of the occurrence, growth and amplitude of wheel squeal under mechanisms such as falling friction and mode coupling will be provided first. This insight will be used to quantify the effectiveness of methods to mitigate its occurrence, such as water and oil-based friction modifiers and vibration dampers. Verifications with experimental and field observations will be discussed to provide important understanding and control of wheel squeal based on underlying mechanics modelling.

Speaker

Prof. Paul A. Meehan
Professor, School of Mechanical and Mining Engineering Faculty of Engineering, Architecture and Information Technology, University of Queensland

Paul is an expert in railway nonlinear mechanics and leads The University of Queensland research in rail mechanics and advanced forming as part of the Centre for Advanced Materials Performance and Manufacturing (AMPAM). He recently finished his service as a research program leader of the CRC for Rail Manufacturing and served as the Chair of the Engineers Australia, National Committee on Applied Mechanics. He has initiated and led many successful large collaborative R&D projects totalling more than $15 million in competitive research funding including ARC Linkage, Queensland Government and CRC grants. His research has a focus on fundamental prediction and control of dynamic phenomena in contact mechanics and wear with applications in railways, automotive and advanced manufacturing. He regularly contributes his expertise to consulting projects such as locomotive dynamics standards testing and served as a lead vibrations expert of the most devastating disaster in Australian history (Black Saturday Bushfires, 2009). Despite his heavy industry collaborative research, he has authored over 140 internationally refereed publications and 3 international patents.

Click here to register on the EA website.