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Pierre-Etienne Gautier · Kiyoshi Nagakura · Ard Kuijpers · James Tuman Nelson ·
David A. Towers · David Anderson · Thorsten Tielkes Editors
Noise and Vibration
Mitigation for Rail Transportation Systems
Proceedings of the 14th International Workshop on Railway Noise, 07–09 December 2022, Shanghai, China
Lecture Notes in Mechanical Engineering
Series Editors
Fakher Chaari, National School of Engineers, University of Sfax, Sfax, Tunisia
Francesco Gherardini , Dipartimento di Ingegneria “Enzo Ferrari”, Università di Modena e Reggio Emilia, Modena, Italy
Vitalii Ivanov, Department of Manufacturing Engineering, Machines and Tools, Sumy State University, Sumy, Ukraine
Mohamed Haddar, National School of Engineers of Sfax (ENIS), Sfax, Tunisia
Editorial Board
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Young W. Kwon, Department of Manufacturing Engineering and Aerospace Engineering, Graduate School of Engineering and Applied Science, Monterey, CA, USA
Justyna Trojanowska, Poznan University of Technology, Poznan, Poland
Jinyang Xu, School of Mechanical Engineering, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, China
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Editors
Xiaozhen Sheng
School of Urban Railway Transportation
Shanghai University of Engineering Science Shanghai, China
Geert Degrande
Department of Civil Engineering KU Leuven Leuven, Belgium
Pierre-Etienne Gautier
SNCF Réseau La Plaine Saint Denis, France
Ard Kuijpers
M+P Raadgevende Ingenieurs BV
Aalsmeer, Noord-Holland, The Netherlands
David A. Towers
Cross-Spectrum Acoustics Inc. Burlington, MA, USA
Thorsten Tielkes
DB Systemtechnik GmbH Center of Competence Center Aerodynamics and HVAC Munich, Germany
David Thompson Institute of Sound and Vibration Research University of Southampton Southampton, UK
Jens C. O. Nielsen Department of Mechanics and Maritime Sciences Chalmers University of Technology Gothenburg, Sweden
Kiyoshi Nagakura
Railway Technical Research Institute Kokubunji, Tokyo, Japan
James Tuman Nelson Wilson, Ihrig and Associates Emeryville, CA, USA
David Anderson Acoustic Studio Stanmore, NSW, Australia
Preface
This volume contains peer-reviewed contributions to the 14th International Workshop on Railway Noise (IWRN14), which took place in Shanghai, China, from 7 to 9 December 2022. The workshop was hosted by the School of Urban Railway Transportation at Shanghai University of Engineering Science in collaboration with Shanghai Intex Exhibition Co. Ltd.
The COVID-19 pandemic brought great difficulty and uncertainty to the preparation of IWRN14. However, IWRN14 still attracted 124 abstracts covering the various aspects of railway noise and vibration. A number of 175 delegates from 17 countries and regions on 4 continents registered for the workshop. Although the workshop had to be shortened from the originally planned 5 days to 3 days (7–9 December 2022) and held only with delegates from Shanghai being allowed to sit in the physical conference room, it went quite smoothly in a single session, with 1 keynote lecture, 54 oral presentations and 34 poster presentations. After the workshop, authors of 78 papers opted to submit full papers for peer review. These papers were rigorously peer-reviewed and carefully revised by the authors and are all published in this book. The following themes are covered: Predictions, Measurements, Monitoring and Modelling (12 papers); High-Speed Rail and Aerodynamic Noise (9 papers); Wheel Out-of-Round and Polygonalisation (1 paper); Rail Roughness, Corrugation and Grinding (3 papers); Wheel and Rail Noise (15 papers); Squeal Noise (8 papers); Interior Noise (7 papers); Structure-Borne Noise and Ground-Borne Vibration (15 papers); Resilient Track Forms (2 papers); Bridge Noise and Vibration (4 papers); and finally, Pantograph-Catenary System Vibration (2 papers).
Since the first IWRN workshop held in Derby in 1976, it has been established as a regular event (held every three years) that brings together the leading researchers and engineers in all fields related to railway noise and vibration. The IWRN workshops have contributed significantly to the understanding and solution of many problems in railway noise and vibration, building a scientific foundation for reducing environmental impact by airborne, ground-borne and structure-borne noise and vibration. There is no formal organisation behind IWRN but rather an informal, committed international committee. It supports the chairman during the preparation process with the experience and expertise of its members.
The international committee is grateful to the local organising committee of IWRN14, the School of Urban Railway Transportation at Shanghai University of Engineering Science, and Shanghai Intex Exhibition Co. Ltd. for their hard work which made IWRN14 a great success in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The editors of this volume are grateful to Nan Zhang from Springer for their hard work in the publication of this book.
We hope that this volume will be used as a “state-of-the-art” reference by scientists and engineers in solving railway noise and vibration problems.
Shanghai, China
Southampton, UK
Leuven, Belgium
Gothenburg, Sweden
La Plaine Saint Denis, France
Tokyo, Japan
Aalsmeer, The Netherlands
Emeryville, USA
Burlington, USA
Stanmore, Australia
Munich, Germany
Xiaozhen Sheng
David Thompson
Geert Degrande
Jens C. O. Nielsen
Pierre-Etienne Gautier
Kiyoshi Nagakura
Ard Kuijpers
James Tuman Nelson
David A. Towers
David Anderson
Thorsten Tielkes
About This book
This book reports on the 14th International Workshop on Railway Noise (IWRN14), held on 7–9 December 2022 in Shanghai, China. It gathers original peer-reviewed papers covering a broad range of railway noise and vibration topics, such as Predictions, Measurements, Monitoring and Modelling; High-Speed Rail and Aerodynamic Noise; Wheel Out-of-Round and Polygonalisation; Rail Roughness, Corrugation and Grinding; Wheel and Rail Noise; Squeal Noise; Interior Noise; Structure-Borne Noise and Ground-Borne Vibration; Resilient Track Forms; Bridge Noise and Vibration; and Pantograph-Catenary System Vibration. Offering extensive and timely information to both scientists and engineers, this book can help them in their daily efforts to identify, understand and solve problems related to railway noise and vibration and to achieve the ultimate goal of controlling the environmental impact of railway systems.
Highlights
• Gathers peer-reviewed papers from the 14th International Workshop on Railway Noise.
• Presents the latest research findings by leading scholars and experienced engineers.
• Describes noise and vibration issues and solutions of railway systems in 19 countries/regions.
Keynote Lectures
Research Advances on Aerodynamic Noise of High-Speed Trains ......
Li Zhuoming, Li Qiliang, Lu Ruisi, and Yang Zhigang
Predictions, Measurements, Monitoring and Modelling
Prediction Model for Railway Noise Emission in Curves ...............
3
41 Michael Ostermann
Multiple Sensors and Partial Calibration for On-Board
Measurement of Rail Acoustic Roughness: Results of Rolling Tests
Olivier Chiello, Marie-Agnès Pallas, Adrien Le Bellec, Rita Tufano, Romain Augez, Benjamin Malardier, Emanuel Reynaud, Nicolas Vincent, and Baldrik Faure
Development of Methods for Virtual Exterior Noise Validation
Rita Caminal Barderi, Romain Rumpler, Antoine Curien, Aurélien Cloix, Martin Rissmann, Ainara Guiral Garcia, Iñigo Eugui Larrea, and Joan Sapena
Use of Heterogeneous Microphone Triplets for Simplified Noise
Apportionment in Pass-By Measurements ...........................
Jaume Solé, Pierre Huguenet, and Mercedes Gutierrez Ferrandiz
Fast and Reliable Noise Predictions for Rolling Stock by Means of Pre-calculated Reference Models .................................
Andrea Bistagnino, Maxime Ripert, Clement Dalmagne, and Joan Sapena
Requirements and Challenges for Vibration Prediction Tools and the Associated Validation Processes
53
63
73
83
93
Sascha Hermann, Dorothée Stiebel, Nils Mahlert, and Rüdiger Garburg xi
Framework for Optimization of Multi-source Railway High Speed Noise Models Through Hybrid Methods Combining Acoustic Simulations and Close Perimetric Noise Measurements ............... 103
Gennaro Sica, Jaume Solé, Pierre Huguenet, and Oliver Bewes
Noise Incentivisation for UK High Speed Train Procurement 113
Gennaro Sica, Tom Marshall, Jon Sims, David Owen, and Oliver Bewes
Analysis of the Uncertainty of High-Speed Rail Noise Predictions 121
James Woodcock, Tom Marshall, Jon Sims, David Owen, Oliver Bewes, and Gennaro Sica
Towards Rail Noise Identification and Localization Based on Deep Learning ......................................................... 131
Rui Xue, Guohua Li, and Xiaoning Ma
Relationship Between Train Horn Sound Levels Tested at 25 m and Sound Levels Experienced at Distance by Track Workers ......... 141
Martin Toward, Marcus Wiseman, Michael Lower, and David Thompson
Considerations for the Implementation of a Train Vibration Monitoring System in Subway Tunnels .............................. 149
Shannon McKenna, Shankar Rajaram, James Tuman Nelson, and Hugh J. Saurenman
Design and Performance of a Comprehensive Vibration Monitoring System for Trains Under University of Washington Campus 159
Shankar Rajaram, James Tuman Nelson, and Marc Pearlman
High-Speed Rail and Aerodynamic Noise
Numerical Simulation of the Aerodynamic Noise of the Leading Bogie of a High-Speed Train ........................................ 171
Yuan He, David Thompson, and Zhiwei Hu
Prediction of the Aerodynamic Sound Power Level of a High Speed Train Bogie Based on Unsteady FW-H Simulation .................... 181
Martin Rissmann, Romain Leneveu, Claire Chaufour, Alexandre Clauzet, and Fabrice Aubin
Optimization of Window Pattern of Tunnel Hood Installed at Long Slab Track Tunnel for Reducing Micro-Pressure Waves ............... 191
Shinya Nakamura, Tokuzo Miyachi, Takashi Fukuda, and Masanobu Iida
Component-Based Model to Predict Aerodynamic Noise from High-Speed Train Bogies
Tatsuya Tonai, Eduardo Latorre Iglesias, Toki Uda, Toshiki Kitagawa, Jorge Muñoz Paniagua, and Javier García García
199
Reduction of Aerodynamic Noise Emitted from Pantograph by Applying Multi-Segmented Smooth Profile Pantograph Head and Low Noise Pantograph Head Support ...........................
Dan Yao, Jie Zhang, Ruiqian Wang, Jie Pang, Yue Zhao, Yumei Zhang, and Xinbiao Xiao
A Statistical Energy Analysis Model of a Metro Train Running in a Tunnel for Prediction of the Internal Noise 553
Yunfei Zhang, Li Li, and Hongxiao Li
Numerical Investigation on the Low-Frequency Vibroacoustic Response of an Aluminium Extrusion Compounded with Acoustic Metamaterials ..................................................... 563
Jie Zhang, Junlin Chen, Dan Yao, Jiang Li, and Shaoyun Guo
Sound-Insulation Prediction for High-Speed Train Walls Based on Neural Network Learning ....................................... 573
Ruiqian Wang, Dan Yao, Jie Zhang, Xinbiao Xiao, and Ye Li
Vibroacoustic of Extruded Panels Excited by a Turbulent Boundary Layer ................................................... 583
Y. Li, X. B. Xiao, Y. Yang, Y. M. Zhang, and R. Q. Wang
Structure-Borne Noise and Ground-Borne Vibration
The Influence of a Building on the Ground-Borne Vibration from Railways in Its Vicinity 595
Xiangyu Qu, David Thompson, Evangelos Ntotsios, and Giacomo Squicciarini
Prediction of Ground Vibration Induced by a High-Speed Train Moving Along a Track Supported by a Pile-Plank Structure 605
Yuhao Peng, Jianfei Lu, and Xiaozhen Sheng
Train Ground-Borne Vibration Control Measures and Validation Tests to Meet Stringent Vibration Thresholds for University of Washington Research Labs ...................................... 615
Shankar Rajaram, James Tuman Nelson, and Thomas Bergen
Design and Implementation of Measures to Reduce the Vibration Levels of Metro Trains ............................................. 625
Wout Schwanen and Jacco de Regt
Simulation and Analysis on Ground Vibrations of Pile-Net Composite Subgrade Under High-Speed Train Loadings .............. 633
Guangyun Gao, Jianlong Geng, Junwei Bi, and Yuanyang You
Transferability of Railway Vibration Emission from One Site to Another 643
M. Villot, C. Guigou-Carter, and P. Jean
Ground Vibration Reduction Analysis of Pile-Supported Subgrade for High-Speed Railway Using 2.5D FEM ............................ 653
Guang-yun Gao, Ji-yan Zhang, and Bi Jun-wei
Noise and Vibration Measurement and Analysis at a Metro Depot and Above Transit-Oriented-Development 663
Hongdong Huang, Jian Wang, Xiaohan Phrain Gu, Anbin Wang, Longhua Ju, Xinwei Luo, and Qingming Tu
Optimizing Components in the Rail Support System for Dynamic Vibration Absorption and Pass-By Noise Reduction 673
Jannik Theyssen, Astrid Pieringer, and Wolfgang Kropp
A Hybrid Prediction Tool for Railway Induced Vibration .............. 683
Pascal Bouvet, Brice Nélain, David Thompson, Evangelos Ntotsios, Andreas Nuber, Bernd Fröhling, Pieter Reumers, Fakhraddin Seyfaddini, Geertrui Herremans, Geert Lombaert, and Geert Degrande
Response of Periodic Railway Bridges Under Moving Loads Accounting for Dynamic Soil-Structure Interaction ................... 693
Pieter Reumers, Geert Lombaert, and Geert Degrande
Investigation of Differences in Wayside Ground Vibration Associated with Train Type ......................................... 703
Briony Croft, Radoslaw Kochanowski, David Hanson, and David Anderson
Theoretical and Numerical Study on the Effect of TMD in Ground Borne Noise Control 713
Ghazaleh Soltanieh, Yi-Qing Ni, Marco Ip, and Wilson Ho
Finite Element Modelling of Tunnel Shielding in Vibration Measurements of Ground-Borne Noise .............................. 723
Fatemeh Dashti, Patrik Höstmad, and Jens Forssén
Assessment of Building Performance Against Train Induced Vibrations by a Hybrid Experimental-Numerical Methodology ........ 731
Hamid Masoumi, Behshad Noori, Joan Cardona, and Patrick Carels
Resilient Track Forms
Resilient Track Components Modelling Options for Time Domain Train-Track Interaction Simulation ................................. 743
Qianqian Li, Egidio Di Gialleonardo, Roberto Corradi, and Andrea Collina
An Analytical Model in Frequency Domain for Embedded Rail Systems ........................................................... 753
Leonardo Faccini, Federico Castellini, Stefano Alfi, Egidio Di Gialleonardo, Andrea Collina, and Roberto Corradi
Bridge Noise and Vibration
A Rapid Calculation of the Vibration of the Bridge with Constrained Layer Damping Based on the Wave and Finite Element Method 765
Quanmin Liu, Yifei Sun, Peipei Xu, and Lizhong Song
Study on Devices to Reduce Pass-by Noise Along Viaducts with Snow-Removing Openings ..................................... 775
Toshiki Kitagawa, Toki Uda, Kiyoshi Nagakura, Kaoru Murata, and Hiroki Aoyagi
Bridge Noise Reduction by Acoustic Short Circuit ....................
Yuanpeng He, Xinghuan Wang, Qing Zhou, Xiaozhen Sheng, and Yulong He
785
Comparison of Vibration Characteristics of Floating Slab Track in Rail Transit Viaduct with Time-Domain and Frequency-Domain Models ........................................................... 793
Qingyuan Song and Qi Li
Pantograph-Catenary System Vibration
A Preliminary Study Towards the Understanding of the Pantograph-Catenary Irregular Wear Problem in the Rigid Overhead Catenary System 805 Xiaohan Phrain Gu, Anbin Wang, Qirui Wu, and Ziyan Ma
Research of Influence of Pantograph-Catenary System Vibration on Irregular Wear of Carbon Contact Strip .......................... 815
Qirui Wu, Xiaohan Phrain Gu, and Anbin Wang
Keynote Lectures
Research Advances on Aerodynamic Noise of High-Speed Trains
Li Zhuoming, Li Qiliang, Lu Ruisi, and Yang Zhigang
Abstract With the increase in operating speed, aerodynamic noise become the technical bottleneck restricting the development of the high-speed railway. This paper reviews the research on the aerodynamic noise of high-speed trains from the perspectives of prediction, mechanism analysis and noise control methods. In terms of prediction methods, the research on the aerodynamic noise of high-speed trains is mainly based on static and dynamic trains, and the wind tunnel test and the field tests are the typical corresponding experimental methods, respectively. Based on the flow-filed simulation, the FW-H equation, the APE equation, and other calculation methods are mainly applied to predict the far and near field noise accurately in simulation. The regions with severe flow separation, such as bogies and pantographs, etc., are identified as the primary noise sources. In terms of mechanism analysis, unsteady flow statistics are helpful in identifying sound sources empirically. Furthermore, the sound source term based on the aerodynamic noise calculation methods can theoretically characterize the sound source characteristics. The reduced-order method, coherence analysis and other statistical analysis methods are applied to clarify the relationship between the flow field. The aerodynamic noise can be optimized by passive control methods, such as the bogie cavity fairing, and active control methods, such as the airflow jet. The noise control methods can be further optimized combined with parametric modeling, genetic algorithm and other methods, which deserve more attention.
L. Zhuoming · L. Qiliang · L. Ruisi · Y. Zhigang (B)
School of Automotive Studies, Tongji University, Shanghai 201804, China e-mail: zhigang.yang@sawtc.com
L. Zhuoming · L. Qiliang · Y. Zhigang
Shanghai Automotive Wind Tunnel Center, Tongji University, Shanghai 201804, China
Shanghai Key Lab of Vehicle Aerodynamics and Vehicle Thermal Management Systems, Shanghai 201804, China
Y. Zhigang
Beijing Aeronautical Science and Technology Research Institute, Beijing 102211, China
High-speed trains are an important part of the national transportation system. As a popular means of transportation, high-speed railway has the characteristics of speed, reliability, comfort and economy. The rapid development of high-speed railway is of great significance to the economic development of cities along the line, reducing the energy consumption of transportation and the advancement of railway technology. In China, high-speed trains cover 95% of cities with a population of 1 million and above, and undertake more than 60% of the national railway passenger volume. It is the main artery of the national economy. By the end of 2030, the operating mileage of China’s high-speed railways is expected to reach 45,000 km, and more than 7000 high-speed trains will operate online [1]. There are systematic technologies of highspeed trains in Japan, France, Germany, and there are also some high-speed rail technical reserves in South Korea and Spain and other countries. In the development of high-speed trains at various stages, speed is the main concern. At present, Chinese high speed trains run up to 360 km/h, and the operating speed of high-speed railways has generally increased to more than 300 km/h [2], while aerodynamics and noise problems are the main factors restricting the further increase of speed if not properly addressed and controlled.
During operation, the noise generated by high-speed trains is mainly composed of traction noise, wheel-rail noise, and aerodynamic noise. The traction noise and wheel-rail noise are proportional to the first power and the third power of the speed, respectively, while the aerodynamic noise is proportional to the sixth power of the operating speed, as shown in Fig. 1. As the train running speed increases, the contribution of aerodynamic noise to the total noise also increases gradually. It is generally believed that when the train speed exceeds 300–350 km/h, the aerodynamic noise will exceed the rolling noise and become the main noise source [3–5]. Considering that high-speed trains are mostly passenger trains and often pass through densely populated areas, the noise generated by the trains has a serious impact on the comfort of residents and passengers along the line. According to surveys [6–8], when the continuous equivalent sound pressure level of railway noise is greater than 60 dB(A), 30% of the population will feel annoyed, and the noise generated by high-speed trains currently operating on the line can be greater than this. This also puts forward higher requirements for the aerodynamic noise standards of 350 km/h high-speed trains currently operating on the line, as well as 400 km/h and above high-speed trains under development, especially on the line where the population density is high and the traffic volume is large.
In order to explore the characteristics of aerodynamic noise sources of high-speed trains, a large number of scholars have carried out relevant research on the characteristics of the aerodynamic noise of the train through experimental tests and simulation methods. With the development of data processing method and the continuous improvement of computing ability, more prediction and analysis methods have been introduced into the research of aerodynamic performance and aerodynamic noise of high-speed trains, which is expected to further improve people’s understanding of the relationship between aerodynamic noise and flow, so as to achieve trains’ low-noise design. This paper summarized the development of research on aerodynamic noise of high-speed trains in the past ten years, and organizes relevant research results of experiments and numerical simulations from the perspectives of prediction, analysis and control. This paper also shows the research progress on aerodynamic noise of high-speed trains running on real road conditions, such as slab and ballast tracks. In the field of flow and acoustics, some promising approaches for train aerodynamic noise control have also been mentioned.
This paper will introduce the relevant research contents from the following aspects: (1) Prediction methods of aerodynamic noise of high-speed trains are introduced, including the commonly used wind tunnel, field test and simulation methods from the perspective of dynamic and static models. (2) Flow and noise analysis methods are expected to be applied to high-speed trains, containing the sound source term analysis and the statistical analysis methods. (3) The aerodynamic noise control methods are discussed, combing the common noise reduction measures for the main
Fig. 1 The relationship between noise and speed of high speed train [9]
noise sources of the train, and focusing on the active and passive control of noise reduction methods involving multi-parameter optimization.
2 Aerodynamic Noise Prediction
The aerodynamic noise of the train is mainly generated from the interaction between the train and the high-speed airflow. In order to reproduce the interaction between the train and the flow, there are usually two research methods. One is to study the flow characteristics of high-speed airflow when it flows through a stationary highspeed train model, and the other is to study the flow characteristics of the airflow driven by a dynamic high-speed train. In view of the aerodynamic noise of highspeed trains, many scholars at home and abroad have carried out relevant research through experiments and simulation methods. Through wind tunnel tests, field tests, and numerical simulations, the flow and aerodynamic noise characteristics of static and dynamic high-speed trains are predicted.
2.1 Static High-Speed Trains Test
Acoustic wind tunnel test is a typical research method of aerodynamic noise of the static high-speed train. In addition, researchers also use the wind tunnel test as a benchmark to simulate static train aerodynamic noise characteristics under different working conditions.
Acoustic wind tunnels are mostly open-jet wind tunnels, and noise reduction design is required in the whole wind tunnel, so as to minimize the background noise in the test section. Limited by the size of the wind tunnel nozzle, the wind tunnel test of the aerodynamic noise of high-speed trains is often carried out based on the scale model of the train. During experiments, it is difficult to flow all the similarity laws, and usually the most important dimensionless numbers are the Reynolds number (Re), the Mach number (Ma), and the Strouhal number (St). It is often difficult to satisfy the similarity laws of Re and Ma simultaneously. Fortunately, when the Re used in the test is larger than the critical value, the characteristics of the aerodynamic and aerodynamic noise of the train model are basically independent of the Reynolds number [10]. However, due to the complexity of local flow field, the similarity laws cannot fully represent the conversion relationship between scale model and full-scale model. The scale method of flow and noise near the complex components such as bogies remains to be further investigated. The test is usually carried out in a semianechoic chamber, and the far-field aerodynamic noise characteristics of the train can be obtained through a free-field microphone. Through the surface microphone, the unsteady pressure characteristics on the body surface can be obtained and when the turbulence filter is applied, the near-field sound characteristics can be further obtained. In order to identify the main noise source of the test model, the microphone
array is the main measurement facility. Based on the beamforming algorithm of delay summation, the main noise source of the train can be approximately determined by processing the acoustic signals of each position of the microphone array. During the process, it is necessary to consider the sound source drift caused by the wind tunnel flow field and the sound propagation refraction correction of the jet shear layer noise in the open-jet wind tunnel [11].
In China, the aerodynamic and aero-acoustic wind tunnels at the Wind Tunnel Center of Tongji University in Shanghai, and the aero-acoustics wind tunnels at the China Aerodynamics Research and Development Center in Mianyang are mainly used to carry out high-speed train aerodynamic noise tests. As shown in Fig. 2, Gao et al. [12, 13] conducted an acoustic test on a high-speed train model in the acoustic wind tunnel of Tongji University. Using far-field microphones and microphone arrays, through comparing the test results of different models, they analyzed the main noise source characteristics and their contributions to the far-field noise. The test results show that when the high-speed train model is completely smooth and there is no ground clearance, it basically does not generate additional noise. For the 1:8 scaled three carriage train model with more details, the bogie and pantograph are the main noise sources, followed by the connection of the carriages, the cowcatcher, the head and the tail of the train. Furthermore, the main frequency characteristics of the sources are analyzed. Hao et al. [14] conducted aerodynamic noise tests on 1:8 scaled three carriage trains in Mianyang, and also found that bogies and pantographs contributed greatly to far-field aerodynamic noise. In addition, the noise caused by bogies is mainly distributed in the middle-and low-frequency bands, with no obvious peak. However, as shown in Fig. 3, the noise generated by the pantograph is mainly medium-and high-frequency noise, and there is peak noise.
Internationally, high-speed train aerodynamic noise tests are often carried out in German-Dutch wind tunnels (DNW), German Aerospace Center (DLR) and Japan
Fig. 2 High speed train model and microphone array in the aero-acoustic wind tunnel of Tongji University
Fig. 3 Aerodynamic noise spectrum of high-speed train with pantograph at 250 km/h [14]
Railway Technical Research Institute (RTRI). Taking RTRI as an example, Yamazaki et al. [15, 16] measured the aerodynamic noise of a 1:7 scaled high-speed train model, and used the TWINS model to predict the wheel-rail noise. It can be found that the results of the wind tunnel test are in good agreement with the results of the field test, and the bogie noise is the main source of the train bottom noise. Below 500 Hz, the contribution of bogie aerodynamic noise to far-field noise is greater than that of wheel-rail and traction noise. And they used the impulse response method to study the transmission path from the noise source to the measuring point. The results show that the noise received by the measuring point is mainly the sound wave reflected from the ground, while the direct sound wave will be covered and weaken by the bogie fairings. Except for the wheel and the cavity structure making loud noise under the influence of incoming flow, the motor and brake also have a great influence on the aerodynamic noise of the bogie. Iglesias et al. [17] tested a 1:7 scaled train model in the same wind tunnel, studied the aerodynamic noise of different bogie structures and inlet conditions, and analyzed the relationship between the speed and directionality of the noise. The results show that the overall sound pressure level varies with the 6.4–6.7th power of velocity, and the components exposed to the free flow are very important to the overall noise, while the bogie components in the bogie cavity radiate much less noise.
It is challenging to realize the relative movement between the train and the ground, and it’s always a key problem to reproduce the near-ground flow under the train. Some scholars have tried to simulate the ground effect through moving belt and tangential airflow jet [18–20], and found that ground conditions have a significant impact on aerodynamic force measurement. Even for stationary ground, the ground structure significantly affects the near-ground flow. Bell et al. [21] carried out the wind tunnel
tests of the high-speed train model under the flat ground and the ground with track. Compared with the ground condition of the embankment and track, the tail vortex movement speed and intensity are greater under flat ground. There are significant differences in the lower flow field of the train. Schober et al. [22] carried out wind tunnel tests to investigate the aerodynamic performance of trains under different ground conditions. It is found that vortex structures that did not exist in the field test would be generated when trains were tested under the ground condition of embankments, which significantly affected aerodynamic measurement. In wind tunnels, simulating ground effects often introduces additional mechanical noise sources, and complex ground structures may also lead to incorrect flow fields. In general, it is difficult to reproduce the aerodynamic noise under real ground conditions in static wind tunnel tests.
The test cost of the high-speed train wind tunnel test is lower than that of field test. A well-designed wind tunnel can reproduce the actual flow field of the high-speed train, realize aerodynamic noise tests under different working conditions, and have a good repeatability. In addition, since the train is fixed in the test section of the wind tunnel, the aerodynamic noise is about to be the only noise source, which helps to accurately study the characteristics of each aerodynamic noise source and control it. However, most of the high-speed train acoustic wind tunnel test platforms are modified from automotive or aviation acoustic wind tunnels, which are limited in size and original functions, especially it is difficult to fully reproduce the near-ground flow of the real environment. For the general wind tunnel test platform, the length of the test section is limited, so it is often only possible to study the scaled model and the short train.
2.2 Static High-Speed Trains Simulation
A well-corrected wind tunnel test can better obtain the aerodynamic noise characteristics of high-speed trains. With the development of computer software and hardware, computational fluid dynamics, computational acoustics and other methods have been gradually applied in the study of aerodynamic noise of high-speed trains.
In engineering, the averaged aerodynamic characteristics of the research object over a period of time are often concerned. The Reynolds Averaged Navier–stokes (RANS) is proposed in this case. However, the generation of aerodynamic noise mainly comes from unsteady phenomena such as vortex shedding and pressure fluctuation, and the RANS method based on the flow statistics theory is difficult to apply in the calculation of aerodynamic noise. For unsteady flow phenomena, it is mainly implemented by the Large Eddy Simulation (LES) [23–25] method and the Detached Eddy Simulation (DES) [26, 27] method. Turbulence is composed of eddies with different scales. Large-scale eddies have a significant impact on the flow, while small-scale eddies tend to be directly dissipated and have the characteristics of isotropic, which are easy to simulate by mathematical models. The main idea of LES is to solve the larger-scale vortices by calculation, and the influence of the small-scale
10L.Zhuomingetal.
vortices is simulated through the model. Due to the simplified calculation of smallscale vortices, the computational complexity of LES is much smaller than that of direct numerical simulations, but it still requires large computational resources [28]. For this reason, the flow near the wall is considered nearly stable, and it is simplified by the RANS method. The rest of the flow field tends to be calculated by the LES method. As an alternative to the traditional N-S equation-based CFD method, the lattice Boltzmann method has also been applied to the simulation of high-speed train aerodynamic noise [29].
For the numerical calculation of aerodynamic noise, the acoustic analogy method was first proposed by Lighthill [30, 31]. By arranging the N-S equation and moving the wave equation to the left side of the equation, the relationship between the wave equation and the sound source term can be clarified. The equation considers the effects of convection and refraction in the acoustic calculation. However, when calculating and solving the quadrupole sound source term of the Lighthill equation, it is necessary to solve the partial derivative of the pressure at each spatial point in the entire computational domain, which requires a lot of computing resources and is difficult to achieve. Since then, in order to find a reasonable engineering calculation method for aerodynamic noise, Ffowcs Williams and Hawkings et al. [32–34] improved and further extended the work of Lighthill and Curle [35]. Applying the method of Green’s function, it is only needed to calculate the pressure integral of the control surface and extrapolate the resulting far-field aerodynamic noise. The aerodynamic noise calculation method is summarized into the FW-H equation, which makes the acoustic analogy method proposed by Lighthill widely used in engineering calculations. After assumptions and simplifications, the FW-H equation only calculates the sound field based on the flow field on the surface, and does not consider the mutual influence of sound waves during the propagation process. Strict preconditions are required in the use process. For example, the distance between the far-field noise measurement points and the sound source is far enough to avoid errors caused by the propagation of the sound source. In 2003, Ewert et al. [36] proposed a set of Acoustic Perturbation Equations (APE) that can be used to simulate and calculate the flowinduced sound field in time and space. By the source term filtering method, the flow field information is filtered to obtain the acoustic information, and the feasibility of its calculation is verified. In addition, the calculation theory of aerodynamic noise also includes the equations of Philips [37] and Lilley [38], the vortex sound equations proposed by Powell [39] and Howe [40], etc. For high-speed train aerodynamic noise simulation, the FW-H equation and the APE equation are widely used.
Many scholars have applied numerical simulation to the analysis of aerodynamic noise. Generally speaking, the solution of aeroacoustics often starts with the simulation of the flow field, and the flow field of the high-speed train is solved by RANS, LES or DES method. As shown in Fig. 4, it is the instantaneous vortex structures near the pantograph simulated through LES. Furthermore, combined with aerodynamic noise methods such as FW-H equation, APE equation, etc., the aerodynamic noise of the train can be solved. Sun et al. [42] used RANS to calculate the external flow field of the high-speed train, combined the nonlinear acoustic solution method and the FW-H equation, calculated the aerodynamic noise in the near and far fields, and
discussed the acoustic contributions of different parts and the characteristics of the far-field noise. Studies have shown that the grooves and nose cones at the connection of the carriages will aggravate the changes in the boundary layer, resulting in greater aerodynamic noise. However, a lot of simplifications were made on high-speed trains in this study, and important noise sources such as bogies and pantographs were not considered. Gao et al. [43] combined the wind tunnel test and aerodynamic noise simulation to solve the far-field and near-field noise through the FW-H equation and the APE equation on the basis of solving the train flow field by the LES equation. The total sound pressure level of the far-field noise obtained from the simulation is only 2 dB different from the wind tunnel test results, and the noise spectrum is basically the same. Further, based on the APE method, the near-field sound distribution of each component of head vehicle can be solved, and it can be found that the sound pressure level of the bogie is more prominent, much larger than that of the windows, nose and other components. Whether it is the far-field sound spectrum or the near-field sound source distribution, the simulation and test results are in good agreement, which proves the feasibility and accuracy of the simulation calculation method. Zhang et al. [44] and Zhu et al. [45] also used an approximate method to calculate the far-field noise, which also verified the effectiveness of the far-field noise simulation method, and clarified the large contribution of the lead car bogie to the far-field noise. However, the above research simplifies the pantograph, which is a critical source of aerodynamic noise. Zhang et al.[46] analyzed the main aerodynamic noise sources and far-field characteristics of the three-carriage train through the broadband noise model, LES and FW-H equations. The results showed that the pantograph, bogie, inter-coach and other locations where the flow separation is intense produce significant aerodynamic noise. Pantograph generates larger noise in the open mode, and the deflector can realize a noise reduction effect. Liu et al.[47] used a similar simulation method to compare the far-field noise characteristics of the pantograph under different train speeds and measuring points. The aerodynamic noise band of the pantograph was narrow and gradually moved to high frequency with the increase of train speed.
It can be found that the simulation has sufficient accuracy, the comparisons of simulation results and experimental results at different receive points are shown in Fig. 5. For the characteristics of the train aerodynamic noise source, similar conclusions can be obtained with the wind tunnel test. Compared with the noise characteristics of the whole train, which are often studied by through wind tunnel tests, it is easier to analyze the aerodynamic noise contribution of each component in simulation. Zhang et al. [48] analyzed the aerodynamic noise contribution of each component of the trailer bogie based on the broadband noise model, LES and FW-H equations. Among the various components of the bogie, the bogie frame contributes more to the far-field noise, followed by the wheelset and then the other components. At the same time, by setting up multiple measuring points and sound source planes, each component’s acoustic directivity and spectral characteristics are discussed. Zhu et al. [49, 50] studied the aerodynamic noise characteristics of the simplified bogie model using the DDES method and the FW-H equation, carried out a detailed discussion on the aerodynamic noise in the wheelset area, and found that the flow separation
Fig. 4 Instantaneous vortex structures near the pantograph [41]
generated by the leading edge of the bogie interacts with the wheelset. Meanwhile, the trailing edge of the bogie is also impacted by the flow, resulting in a strong source of aerodynamic noise. Tan et al. [51] discussed the acoustic characteristics and vortex structure of each part of the pantograph according to the FW-H equation. It can be found that the sound source intensity of each part of the pantograph is closely related to the vortex structure nearby. The vortex structure and aero-acoustic characteristics at the pantograph head are quite different, and the control of the vortex structure can realize noise reduction of the pantograph region. For the simulation of aerodynamic noise of high-speed trains, the simulation can better achieve the statistical characteristics of flow field, so as to carry out the detailed analysis of the aerodynamic noise characteristics, and establish the relationship between the flow and acoustic characteristics. The method of aerodynamic noise analysis will be further sorted out in the Sect. 3
The combination of the acoustic analogy method and the LES or DES equation is a common mean of aerodynamic noise simulation. In addition, other flow or acoustic simulation methods also have their advantages and are applied to the aerodynamic noise simulation of high-speed trains. The boundary element method first obtains the turbulent pressure fluctuation on the train surface through unsteady calculation, and then uses the boundary element method to calculate the aero-acoustic characteristics. Compared with the traditional combination of unsteady calculations and FW-H equations, the boundary element method can obtain sound source characteristics faster under limited computing resources. Zheng et al. [52] discussed the distribution of aerodynamic noise sources on the train surface through the boundary element method, and compared it with the traditional FW-H method to verify the accuracy of the surface sound source calculated by the boundary element method. The sound source distribution shows that the noise in the bogie area is stronger. Luo et al.[53]
Fig. 5 Spectral comparison of the simulation results and experimental results [45]
combined LES and boundary element methods to study the aerodynamic noise in the pantograph area. In addition, the boundary element method is also often used in the fields of wheel-rail noise and vibration noise of high-speed trains, which is not described here. The lattice Boltzmann method (LBM) has significant advantages in dealing with the external flow field of complex high-speed trains, and often does not require model simplification or reduction. Meskine et al.[54] verified the accuracy of the LBM method in numerical simulation of aerodynamic noise. Compared with other aero-acoustics prediction methods, the component-based method is a semiempirical prediction model, and the model coefficients of each component of the research object can be obtained through the database, which can realize the rapid prediction of aerodynamic noise. Based on the empirical database of different rods, Iglesias et al.[55] realized the overall aerodynamic noise prediction of the pantograph, and verified the accuracy of the empirical model according to the wind tunnel test results. In addition, the vortex sound equation is also a choice to replace the FW-H equation for aerodynamic noise prediction. Zhang et al.[56] used the vortex sound theory to calculate the cavity noise and carried out experimental verification. Zhu et al.[50] also used the source term of the vortex acoustic equation to analyze the relationship between the flow and acoustic characteristics of the wheelset. It is worth noting that, similar to the static wind tunnel test, there are some differences in the simulation results under different ground conditions, especially for nearground flows. Xia et al. [58] used the DES method to study the influence of ground
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he blew and vexed the little brown pipe with rapid runs and nervous fioriture, until great drops of sweat dripped from its round open mouth. Sometimes, when he could not play fast enough to satisfy his eagerness, he ran his finger up and down the vents; then, suddenly lowering his instrument, he would scream, in a strong peasant voice, verse after verse of the novena, to the accompaniment of the zampogna (bagpipe). One was like a slow old Italian vettura, all lumbered with luggage and held back by its drag; the other panting and nervous at his work as an American locomotive, and as constantly running off the rails. As they stood there playing, a little group gathered round. A scamp of a boy left his sport to come and beat time with a stick on the stone step before them; several children clustered near; and one or two women, with black-eyed infants in their arms, also paused to listen and sympathise.”
Every one who has been in Rome during Advent has seen this group, or one mighty like it and equally characteristic. Turn to the book (chapter on “Street Music in Rome”) for the little scene that follows, for the music of the pifferari song, and for Mr Story’s conversation with the enthusiastic piper, whom, with his companions, he invited up into his house, where they agreeably stunned him with their noisy music, to the delight of his children and the astonishment of his servants, for whom piffero and zampogna had long since lost all charm, and who doubtless looked upon their introduction with somewhat of the same feeling of disgust with which London flunkies would behold that of a couple of organgrinders and a cage of white mice into a Grosvenor Square drawingroom. However, Mr Story took down the words of their quaint song, which we find printed, probably for the first time, in his book, and he also got from them some curious particulars of their wanderings. The man who blew the little brown pipe was quite a character. He and his companion had played together for three-and-thirty years, and their sons, who presently came up, were to play together with them. “For thirty-three years more, let us hope,” said Mr Story.
“‘Eh! Speriamo’ (let us hope so), was the answer of the pifferaro, as he showed all his teeth in the broadest of smiles. Then, with a motion of his hand, he set both the young men going, he himself joining in, straining out his cheeks, blowing all the breath of his body into the little pipe, and running up and down the vents with a sliding finger, until finally he brought up against a high, shrill note, to which he
gave the full force of his lungs, and after holding it in loud blast for a moment, startled us by breaking off, without gradation, into a silence as sudden as if the music had snapped short off like a pipe-stem.”
There are a great many stories and incidents of and relating to Rome and its inhabitants scattered through the ‘Roba;’ and although to us “old Romans,” not all of these may be new, the majority of them will be so to most readers, and they are generally well told and ben trovate. Amongst them we prefer those little anecdotes and traits of character which are evidently derived from the writer’s personal observation, and which, therefore, as might be expected, are amongst the most racy morsels in the book. Take the following as an excellent specimen of quiet humour—a strain in which we like Mr Story better than in his more buoyant mood:—
“My friend Count Cignale is a painter he has a wonderful eye for colour and an exquisite taste. He was making me a visit the other day, and in strolling about the neighbourhood we were charmed with an old stone wall of as many colours as Joseph’s coat: tender greys, dashed with creamy yellows and golden greens and rich subdued reds, were mingled together in its plastered stonework; above towered a row of glowing oleanders covered with clusters of roseate blossoms. Nothing would do but that he must paint it, and so secure it at once for his portfolio; for who knows, said he, that the owner will not take it into his head to whitewash it next week, and ruin it? So he painted it, and a beautiful picture it made. Within a week the owner made a call on us. He had seen Cignale painting his wall with surprise, and deemed an apology necessary. ‘I am truly sorry, ’ he said, ‘that the wall is left in such a condition. It ought to be painted all over with a uniform tint, and I will do it at once. I have long had this intention, and I will no longer omit to carry it into effect.’
“‘Let us beseech you, ’ we both cried at once, ‘ caro conte mio, to do no such thing, for you will ruin your wall. What! whitewash it over! it is profanation, sacrilege, murder, and arson. ’
“He opened his eyes. ‘Ah! I did not mean to whitewash it, but to wash it over with a pearl colour,’ he answered.
“‘Whatever you do to it you will spoil it. Pray let it alone. It is beautiful now. ’
“‘Is it, indeed?’ he cried. ‘Well, I hadn’t the least idea of that. But if you say so, I will let it alone.’
“And thus we saved a wall.”
The preceding scrap reminds us of a passage from Alphonse Karr, one of the most quietly-humorous of living French writers, who relates, in one of his quaint, dreamy, desultory books, how a neighbour of his, who lived in a poor thatched cottage on the fringe of a wood, embowered in flowers, shaded by venerable trees, refreshed by the balmiest of breezes, and enlivened by the songs of countless birds, suddenly disappeared from the countryside. Karr, who had long admired the sylvan retreat, and almost envied its occupant, inquired his fate. He had become rich, he was told; a legacy had enabled him to go and live in the town. He could afford to rent two rooms with new furniture and a gaudy paper, and he looked out upon a dirty street, along which omnibuses continually rolled. “Poor rich man!” Karr pitying exclaims. He had whitewashed his wall.
The Roman Ghetto furnishes the theme of one of Mr Story’s longest and most lively chapters; Fountains and Aqueducts, Saints and Superstitions, the Evil Eye, are the titles of three others. He begins his second volume with a vivid and characteristic sketch of the Markets of Rome, which are well worth the attention of foreign visitors, especially of Englishmen, who will find their arrangements, and much of what is there sold, to contrast strikingly with what they are accustomed to in their own country. Carcasses of pigs and goats adorned with scraps of gold-leaf and tinsel, blood puddings of a brilliant crimson, poultry sold by retail—that is to say, piecemeal, so that you may buy a wing, a leg, or even the head or gizzard of a fowl, if so it please you. There is game of all sorts, and queer beasts and fowls of many kinds are also there; the wild boar rough and snarling —the slender tawny deer—porcupines (commonly eaten in Rome)— most of our English game-birds—ortolans, beccaficoes, and a great variety of singing-birds. Passing into the fruit and vegetable market, one comes upon mushrooms of many colours, and some of them of enormous size, most of which would in England be looked upon as sudden death to the consumer, although in Italy they are found both savoury and harmless. “Here are the grey porcini, the foliated alberetti, and the orange-hued ovole; some of the latter of enormous size, big enough to shelter a thousand fairies under their smooth and painted domes. In each of these is a cleft stick, bearing a card from the inspector of the market, granting permission to sell; for mushrooms have proved fatal to so many cardinals, to say nothing of
popes and people, that they are naturally looked upon with suspicion, and must all be officially examined to prevent accidents.” Besides the fruits common in England, figs are very abundant, and of many kinds; and when the good ones come in, in September, the Romans of the lower classes assemble in the evenings, in the Piazza Navona, for great feeds upon them. Five or six persons surround a great basket and eat it empty, correcting possible evil results by a glass of strong waters or a flask of red wine. But figs are a wholesome fruit—much more so than one which at Rome, and in many parts of Southern Europe, is the most popular of all—namely, the watermelon. What millions of people, from the Danube’s banks to the Portuguese coast, are daily refreshed the summer through by those huge green gourds, hard and unpromising in outward aspect, but revealing, at stroke of knife, rich store of rosy pulp, dotted with sable seeds! Pesth is a great place for them; and daily, when morning breaks, so long as they are in season, they are to be seen piled, all along the river-side, in heaps like those of shot and shell in an arsenal, only much broader and higher. All through the hot months, in Hungary’s pleasant and interesting capital, few persons think of dining without associating with the more heating viands a moiety or enormous segment of one of those great cold fruits—a strange digestive, as we Northerners should consider it, but found to answer well in sultry climes. At Rome they are equally appreciated, and are set above the choicest grapes. People make parties to go out of the city and eat them; and this was especially the case some years ago, when the authorities forbade their entrance on account of the cholera, but were unable to prevent their extramural consumption. In ordinary times you find heaps of them in the streets, especially in the Piazza Navona, that great mart of fruit and frippery, vegetables, old books, brilliant handkerchiefs, and other finery for the marketwomen—old iron, old bottles, and rubbish of all kinds—amongst which miscellany the patient investigator may sometimes discover valuable copies of the classic authors and precious antique intagli, to be purchased for a mere song. Here, as the story goes, a poor priest once bought, for a few baiocchi, a large cut-glass bead which took his fancy, and which a friend, more knowing than himself, afterwards discovered to be a diamond of great value, now belonging, we are told, to the Emperor of Russia. The priest disappeared, which leaves any ingenious and inventive writer full liberty to build a romantic
tale upon the incident. The natural finale of the affair, Mr Story opines, would have been for the priest to have married the Emperor’s daughter, but his being in orders was an impediment; and so we are justified in presuming that some less agreeable means was found of easing him of his jewel, which, when he first possessed it, he took to be a drop from a chandelier, but to which he of course clung with desperate tenacity when enlightened as to the quality of the gem. Rome ought to be a good preserve for fiction-writers, there are so many family histories, traditions, and anecdotes current there, which would serve the novelist’s turn. Edmund About availed himself of one such in his tale of ‘Tolla;’ and another over-true tale was interwoven, not very long since, in a pleasant novelet of Roman life in the pages of this Magazine. Mr Story’s volumes abound in suggestive passages of the kind. If Rome be an admirable residence for an artist (and for some of the reasons why it is so, see the ‘Roba,’ i. p. 66, 67), it ought also to be an excellent one for a writer, were it not that it is found by many unfavourable to mental exertion. This is said to be particularly exemplified in the case of diplomatists, many of whom, after a certain time passed in the Papal capital, are apt to conceive an intense dislike to despatch-writing, and to keep their Governments extremely uninformed concerning the state of the Holy City and the prospects of Pontifical politics. We remember to have been told, when in Rome, the names of more than one foreign minister who had been recalled, it was asserted, for no other reason but that nothing could induce him to write despatches. Rome is certainly one of the places where there is most temptation, at least for one half of the year, to neglect business for pleasure; but there is possibly also something in the climate which disinclines many people to headwork. It is much the fashion to abuse the Roman climate; and this has been done, especially of late, by persons desirous to show that Rome is an undesirable, because a highly insalubrious, capital for united Italy. It is to be feared the grapes are sour, and that the yellow flag now hoisted would be struck at the same time with the French tricolour. Our own experience and observations induce us very much to concur with those passages of Mr Story’s book which relate to this question. “Rome has, with strangers, the reputation of being unhealthy; but this opinion I cannot think well founded—to the extent, at least, of the common belief.” Many maladies, virulent and dangerous elsewhere, are very light in Rome; and for lung
complaints it is well known that people repair thither. The “Roman fever,” as it is commonly called (intermittent and perniciosa), is seldom suffered from by the better classes of Romans; and Mr Story (who speaks with authority after his many years’ residence in Rome) believes that, with a little prudence, it may easily be avoided. The peasants of the Campagna are, it is well known, those who chiefly suffer from it, and why? “Their food is poor, their habits careless, their labour exhausting and performed in the sun, and they sleep often on the bare ground or a little straw. And yet, despite the life they lead and their various exposures, they are, for the most part, a very strong and sturdy class.” Mr Story gives it as a fact that the French soldiers who besieged Rome in ‘48, during the summer months, suffered very little from fever, although sleeping out on the Campagna; but they were better clothed and fed, and altogether more careful of themselves, than the native peasants. Generally speaking, the foreigners who visit Rome are less attentive than the Romans to certain common rules for the preservation of health. They eat and drink too much, and of the wrong things. They get hot, and then plunge into cold churches or galleries; whereas an Italian flies from a chill or current of air as from infection. Mr Story gives a few simple rules, by following which he declares you may live twenty years in Rome without a fever. He cautions Englishmen against copious dinners, sherry and brandy, and his own countrymen against the morning-dinner which they call a breakfast; and supplies other useful hints and practical remarks. The subject is one which interests many, and such are referred to the ‘Roba,’ i. p. 156–161, and to the chapter on the Campagna, in which high authorities and ingenious arguments are brought to prove that in old times it was not insalubrious, and that in our own it need not be so. Population and cultivation are perhaps all that are needed to render tracts healthy that now are pestilential, but which assuredly were not so in the time of the ancient Romans, since many of them, we know, were their favourite sites for patrician villas. Much might be done by an intelligent and active government, and especially by a good sanitary commission. There was one clever gentleman who wrote that Rome was ill fitted to be the capital of Italy on account of its deficiency in buildings suitable for government offices! Where good reasons are not to be found silly ones may be resorted to, but they of course only weaken the cause they are intended to prop. And if it were to be
urged that all the worst plagues flesh is heir to, combine to render Rome for the present impossible as capital of Italy, the most we could admit, by way of compromise, and borrowing a well-known answer, would be, “non tutti, ma Buona parte.”
CAXTONIANA: A SERIES OF ESSAYS ON LIFE, LITERATURE,
By the Author of
AND MANNERS.
‘The Caxton Family.’
PART XV.
NO. XX.—ON SELF-CONTROL.
“He who desires to influence others must learn to command himself,” is an old aphorism, on which, perhaps, something new may be said. In the ordinary ethics of the nursery, self-control means little more than a check upon temper. A wise restraint, no doubt; but as useful to the dissimulator as to the honest man. I do not necessarily conquer my anger because I do not show that I am angry. Anger vented often hurries towards forgiveness; anger concealed often hardens into revenge.
A hasty temper is not the only horse that runs away with the charioteer on the Road of Life. Nor is it the most dangerous, for it seldom runs away far. It gives a jerk and a shake; but it does not take the bit between its teeth, and gallop blindly on, mile after mile, in one obstinate direction towards a precipice. A hasty temper is an infirmity disagreeable to others, undignified in ourselves—a fault so well known to every man who has it, that he will at once acknowledge it to be a fault which he ought to correct. He requires, therefore, no moralising essayist to prove to him his failing, or teach him his duty. But still a hasty temper is a frank offender, and has seldom that injurious effect either on the welfare of others, or on our own natures, mental and moral, which results from the steady purpose of one of those vices which are never seen in a passion.
In social intercourse, if his character be generous and his heart sound, a man does not often lose a true friend from a quick word. And even in the practical business of life, wherein an imperturbable temper is certainly a priceless advantage, a man of honesty and talent may still make his way without it. Nay, he may inspire a greater trust in his probity and candour, from the heat he displays against trickiness and falsehood. Indeed there have been consummate masters in the wisdom of business who had as little command of temper as if Seneca and Epictetus had never proved the command of temper to be the first business of wisdom. Richelieu strode towards his public objects with a footstep unswervingly firm, though his servants found it the easiest thing in the world to put him into a passion. Sometimes they did so on purpose, pleased to be scolded unjustly, because sure of some handsome amends. And in treating of self-control, I am contented to take that same Richelieu, the Cardinal, as an illustration of the various and expansive meaning which I give to the phrase. Richelieu did not command his temper in the sphere of his private household: he commanded it to perfection in his administration of a kingdom. He was cruel, but from policy, not from rage. Among all the victims of that policy, there was not one whose doom could be ascribed to his personal resentments. The life of no subject, and the success of no scheme, depended on the chance whether the irritable minister was in good or bad humour. If he permitted his temper free vent in his household, it was because there he was only a private individual. There, he could indulge in the luxury of ire without disturbing the mechanism of the state. There, generous as a noble and placable as a priest, he could own himself in the wrong, and beg his servants’ forgiveness, without lowering the dignity of the minister, who, when he passed his threshold, could ask no pardon from others, and acknowledge no fault in himself. It was there where his emotions were most held in restraint,—there where, before the world’s audience, his mind swept by concealed in the folds of its craft, as, in Victor Hugo’s great drama, L’Homme Rouge passes across the stage, curtained round in his litter, a veiled symbol of obscure, inexorable, majestic fate,—it was there where the dread human being seemed to have so mastered his thoughts and his feelings, that they served but as pulleys and wheels to the bloodless machine of his will,—it was there that self-control was in truth the
most feeble. And this apparent paradox brings me at once to the purpose for which my essay is written.
What is S ? What is that many-sided Unity which is centred in the single Ego of a man’s being? I do not put the question metaphysically. Heaven forbid! The problem it involves provokes the conjectures of all schools, precisely because it has received no solution from any. The reader is welcome to whatever theory he may prefer to select from metaphysical definitions, provided that he will acknowledge in the word Self the representation of an integral individual human being—the organisation of a certain fabric of flesh and blood, biassed, perhaps, originally by the attributes and peculiarities of the fabric itself—by hereditary predispositions, by nervous idiosyncrasies, by cerebral developments, by slow or quick action of the pulse, by all in which mind takes a shape from the mould of the body;—but still a Self which, in every sane constitution, can be changed or modified from the original bias, by circumstance, by culture, by reflection, by will, by conscience, through means of the unseen inhabitant of the fabric. Not a man has ever achieved a something good or great, but will own that, before he achieved it, his mind succeeded in conquering or changing some predisposition of body.
True self-control, therefore, is the control of that entire and complex unity, the individual Self. It necessitates an accurate perception of all that is suggested by the original bias, and a power to adapt and to regulate, or to oppose and divert, every course to which that bias inclines the thought and impels the action.
For Self, left to itself, only crystallises atoms homogeneous to its original monad. A nature constitutionally proud and pitiless, intuitively seeks, in all the culture it derives from intellectual labour, to find reasons to continue proud and pitiless—to extract from the lessons of knowledge arguments by which to justify its impulse, and rules by which the impulse can be drilled into method and refined into policy.
Among the marvels of psychology, certainly not the least astounding is that facility with which the conscience, being really sincere in its desire of right, accommodates itself to the impulse which urges it to go wrong. It is thus that fanatics, whether in religion or in politics, hug as the virtue of saints and heroes the
barbarity of the bigot, the baseness of the assassin. No one can suppose that Calvin did not deem that the angels smiled approbation when he burned Servetus. No one can suppose that when Torquemada devised the Inquisition, he did not conscientiously believe that the greatest happiness of the greatest number could be best secured by selecting a few for a roast. Torquemada could have no personal interest in roasting a heretic; Torquemada did not eat him when roasted; Torquemada was not a cannibal.
Again: no one can suppose that when the German student, Sand, after long forethought, and with cool determination, murdered a writer whose lucubrations shocked his political opinions, he did not walk to the scaffold with a conscience as calm as that of the mildest young lady who ever slaughtered a wasp from her fear of its sting.
So when Armand Richelieu marched inflexibly to his public ends, the spy on his left side, the executioner on his right, Bayard could not have felt himself more free from stain and reproach. His conscience would have found in his intellect not an accusing monitor but a flattering parasite. It would have whispered in his ear—“Great Man— Hero, nay, rather Demigod[5]—to destroy is thy duty, because to reconstruct is thy mission. The evils which harass the land—for which Heaven, that gave thee so dauntless a heart and so scheming a brain, has made thee responsible—result from the turbulent ambition of nobles who menace the throne thou art deputed to guard, and the licence of pestilent schisms at war with the Church of which thou art the grace and the bulwark. Pure and indefatigable patriot, undeterred by the faults of the sovereign who hates thee, by the sins of the people who would dip their hands in thy blood, thou toilest on in thy grand work serenely, compelling the elements vainly conflicting against thee into the unity of thine own firm design— unity secular, unity spiritual—one throne safe from rebels, one church free from schisms; in the peace of that unity, the land of thy birth will collect and mature and concentrate its forces, now wasted and waning, till it rise to the rank of the one state of Europe—the brain and the heart of the civilised world! No mythical Hercules thou! Complete thy magnificent labours. Purge the land of the Lion and Hydra—of the throne-shaking Baron—the church-splitting Huguenot!”
5. An author dedicated a work to Richelieu. In the dedication, referring to the ‘Siege of Rochelle,’ he complimented the Cardinal with the word Hero. When the dedication was submitted to Richelieu for approval, he scratched out “Hèros,” and substituted “Demi-Dieu!”
Armand Richelieu, by nature not vindictive nor mean, thus motions without remorse to the headsman, listens without shame to the spy, and, when asked on his deathbed if he forgave his enemies, replies, conscientiously ignorant of his many offences against the brotherhood between man and man, “I owe no forgiveness to enemies; I never had any except those of the State.”
For human governments, the best statesman is he who carries a keen perception of the common interests of humanity into all his projects, howsoever intellectually subtle. But that policy is not for the interests of humanity which cannot be achieved without the spy and the headsman. And those projects cannot serve humanity which sanction persecution as the instrument of truth, and subject the fate of a community to the accident of a benevolent despot.
In Richelieu there was no genuine self-control, because he had made his whole self the puppet of certain fixed and tyrannical ideas. Now, in this the humblest and obscurest individual amongst us is too often but a Richelieu in miniature. Every man has in his own temperament peculiar propellers to the movement of his thoughts and the choice of his actions. Every man has his own favourite ideas rising out of his constitutional bias. At the onset of life this bias is clearly revealed to each. No youth ever leaves college but what he is perfectly aware of the leading motive-properties of his own mind. He knows whether he is disposed by temperament to be timid or rash, proud or meek, covetous of approbation or indifferent to opinion, thrifty or extravagant, stern in his justice or weak in his indulgence. It is while his step is yet on the threshold of life that man can best commence the grand task of self-control; for then he best adjusts that equilibrium of character by which he is saved from the despotism of one ruling passion or the monomania of one cherished train of ideas. Later in life our introvision is sure to be obscured—the intellect has familiarised itself to its own errors, the conscience is deafened to its own first alarms; and the more we cultivate the intellect in its favourite tracks, the more we question the conscience in its own prejudiced creed, so much the more will the intellect find
skilful excuses to justify its errors, so much the more will the conscience devise ingenious replies to every doubt we submit to the casuistry of which we have made it the adept.
Nor is it our favourite vices alone that lead us into danger—noble natures are as liable to be led astray by their favourite virtues; for it is the proverbial tendency of a virtue to fuse itself insensibly into its neighbouring vice; and, on the other hand, in noble natures, a constitutional vice is often drilled into a virtue.
But few men can attain that complete subjugation of self to the harmony of moral law, which was the aim of the Stoics. A mind so admirably balanced that each attribute of character has its just weight and no more, is rather a type of ideal perfection, than an example placed before our eyes in the actual commerce of life. I must narrow the scope of my homily, and suggest to the practical a few practical hints for the ready control of their faculties.
It seems to me that a man will best gain command over those intellectual faculties which he knows are his strongest, by cultivating the faculties that somewhat tend to counterbalance them. He in whom imagination is opulent and fervid will regulate and discipline its exercise by forcing himself to occupations or studies that require plain common sense. He who feels that the bias of his judgment or the tendency of his avocations is over-much towards the positive and anti-poetic forms of life, will best guard against the narrowness of scope and feebleness of grasp which characterise the intellect that seeks common sense only in commonplace, by warming his faculties in the glow of imaginative genius; he should not forget that where heat enters it expands. And, indeed, the rule I thus lay down, eminent men have discovered for themselves. Men of really great imagination will be found to have generally cultivated some branch of knowledge that requires critical or severe reasoning. Men of really great capacities for practical business will generally be found to indulge in a predilection for works of fancy. The favourite reading of poets or fictionists of high order will seldom be poetry or fiction. Poetry or fiction is to them a study, not a relaxation. Their favourite reading will be generally in works called abstruse or dry—antiquities, metaphysics, subtle problems of criticism, or delicate niceties of scholarship. On the other hand, the favourite reading of celebrated lawyers is generally novels. Thus in every mind of large powers there
is an unconscious struggle perpetually going on to preserve its equilibrium. The eye soon loses its justness of vision if always directed towards one object at the same distance—the soil soon exhausts its produce if you draw from it but one crop.
But it is not enough to secure counteraction for the mind in all which directs its prevailing faculties towards partial and special results; it is necessary also to acquire the power to keep differing faculties and acquirements apart and distinct on all occasions in which it would be improper to blend them. When the poet enters on the stage of real life as a practical man of business, he must be able to leave his poetry behind him; when the practical man of business enters into the domain of poetry, he must not remind us that he is an authority on the Stock Exchange. In a word, he who has real selfcontrol has all his powers at his command, now to unite and now to separate them.
In public life this is especially requisite. A statesman is seldom profound unless he be somewhat of a scholar; an orator is seldom eloquent unless he have familiarised himself with the world of the poets. But he will never be a statesman of commanding influence, and never an orator of lasting renown, if, in action or advice on the practical affairs of nations, he be more scholar or poet than orator or statesman. Pitt and Fox are memorable instances of the discriminating self-abnegation with which minds of masculine power can abstain from the display of riches unsuited to place and occasion.
In the Mr Fox of St Stephen’s, the nervous reasoner from premises the broadest and most popular, there is no trace of the Mr Fox of St Anne’s, the refining verbal critic, with an almost feminine delight in the filigree and trinkets of literature. At rural leisure, under his apple-blossoms, his predilection in scholarship is for its daintiest subtleties; his happiest remarks are on writers very little read. But place the great Tribune on the floor of the House of Commons, and not a vestige of the fine verbal critic is visible. His classical allusions are then taken from passages the most popularly known. And, indeed, it was a saying of Fox’s, “That no young member should hazard in Parliament a Latin quotation not found in the Eton Grammar.”
Pitt was yet more sparing than Fox in the exhibition of his scholarship, which, if less various than his rival’s, was probably quite
as deep. And one of the friends who knew him best said, that Pitt rigidly subdued his native faculty of wit, not because he did not appreciate and admire its sparkles in orators unrestrained by the responsibilities of office, but because he considered that a man in the position of First Minister impaired influence and authority by the cheers that transferred his reputation from his rank of Minister to his renown as Wit. He was right. Grave situations are not only dignified but strengthened by that gravity of demeanour which is not the hypocrisy of the would-be wise, but the genuine token of the earnest sense of responsibility.
Self-control thus necessitates, first, Self-Knowledge—the consciousness and the calculation of our own resources and our own defects. Every man has his strong point—every man has his weak ones. To know both the strong point and the weak ones is the first object of the man who means to extract from himself the highest degree of usefulness with the least alloy of mischief. His next task is yet more to strengthen his strong points by counterbalancing them with weights thrown into the scale of the weak ones; for force is increased by resistance. Remedy your deficiencies, and your merits will take care of themselves. Every man has in him good and evil. His good is his valiant army, his evil is his corrupt commissariat; reform the commissariat, and the army will do its duty.
The third point in Self-control is Generalship—is Method—is that calm science in the midst of movement and passion which decides where to advance, where to retreat—what regiments shall lead the charge, what regiments shall be held back in reserve. This is the last and the grandest secret: the other two all of us may master.
The man who, but with a mind somewhat above the average (raised above the average whether by constitutional talent or laborious acquirement), has his own intellect, with all its stores, under his absolute control,—that man can pass from one state of idea to another—from action to letters, from letters to action—without taking from one the establishment that would burden the other. It is comparatively a poor proprietor who cannot move from town to country but what he must carry with him all his servants and half his furniture. He who keeps the treasures he has inherited or saved in such compartments that he may know where to look for each at the moment it is wanted, will rarely find himself misplaced in any
change of situation. It is not that his genius is versatile, but that it has the opulent attributes which are essential to successful intellect of every kind. The attributes themselves may vary in property and in degree, but the power of the S —of the unity which controls all at its disposal—should be in the facility with which it can separate or combine all its attributes at its will.
It is thus, in the natural world, that an ordinary chemist may accomplish marvels beyond the art of magicians of old. Each man of good understanding, who would be as a chemist to the world within himself, will be startled to discover what new agencies spring into action merely by separating the elements dormant when joined, or combining those that were wasted in air when apart. In one completed Man there are the forces of many men. Self-control is selfcompletion.
NO. XXI.—THE MODERN MISANTHROPE.
“All the passions,” saith an old writer, “are such near neighbours, that if one of them is on fire the others should send for the buckets.” Thus love and hate being both passions, the one is never safe from the spark that sets the other ablaze. But contempt is passionless; it does not catch, it quenches fire. The misanthrope who professes to hate mankind has generally passed to that hate from too extravagant a love. And love for mankind is still, though unconsciously to himself, feeding hate by its own unextinguished embers. “The more a man loves his mistress,” says Rochefoucauld, “the nearer he is to hate her.” Possibly so, if he is jealous; but in return, the more he declares he hates her, the nearer he is to loving her again. Vehement affections do not move in parallels but in circles. As applied to them the proverb is true, “Les extrêmes se touchent.” A man of ardent temperament who is shocked into misanthropy by instances of ingratitude and perfidy, is liable any day to be carried back into philanthropy, should unlooked-for instances of gratitude and truth start up and take him by surprise. But if an egotist, who, inheriting but a small pittance of human affection, concentres it rigidly on himself, should deliberately school his reason into calm contempt for his species, he will retain that contempt to the last. He looks on the world of man, with its virtues and vices, much as you, O my reader, look on an ant-hill! What to you are the virtues or vices of ants? It is this kind of masked misanthropy which we encounter in our day— the misanthropy without a vizard belongs to a ruder age.
The misanthrope of Shakespeare and Molière is a passionate savage; the misanthrope who has just kissed his hand to you is a polished gentleman. No disgust of humanity will ever make him fly the world. From his club-window in St James’s his smile falls on all passers-by with equal suavity and equal scorn. It may be said by verbal critics that I employ the word misanthrope incorrectly—that, according to strict interpretation, a misanthrope means not a despiser but a hater of men, and that this elegant gentleman is not, by my own showing, warmblooded enough for hate. True, but contempt so serene and immovable is the philosophy of hate—the
intellectual consummation of misanthropy. My hero would have listened with approving nod to all that Timon or Alceste could have thundered forth in detestation of his kind, and blandly rejoined, “Your truisms, mon cher, are as evident as that two and two make four. But you can calculate on the principle that two and two make four without shouting forth, as if you proclaimed a notable discovery, what every one you meet knows as well as yourself. Men are scoundrels—two and two make four—reckon accordingly, and don’t lose your temper in keeping your accounts.” My misanthrope à la mode never rails at vice; he takes it for granted as the elementary principle in the commerce of life. As for virtue, he regards it as a professor of science regards witchcraft. No doubt there are many plausible stories, very creditably attested, that vouch for its existence, but the thing is not in nature. Easier to believe in a cunning imposture than an impossible fact. It is the depth and completeness of his contempt for the world that makes him take the world so pleasantly. He is deemed the man of the world par excellence, and the World caresses and admires its Man.
The finest gentleman of my young day, who never said to you an unkind thing nor of you a kind one—whose slightest smile was a seductive fascination—whose loudest tone was a flute-like melody— had the sweetest way possible of insinuating his scorn of the human race. The urbanity of his manners made him a pleasant acquaintance —the extent of his reading an accomplished companion. No one was more versed in those classes of literature in which Mephistopheles might have sought polite authorities in favour of his demoniacal views of philosophy. He was at home in the correspondence between cardinals and debauchees in the time of Leo X. He might have taken high honours in an examination on the memoirs illustrating the life of French salons in the ancien régime. He knew the age of Louis Quinze so well that to hear him you might suppose he was just fresh from a petit souper in the Parc aux Cerfs.
Too universally agreeable not to amuse those present at the expense of those absent, still, even in sarcasm, he never seemed to be ill-natured. As one of his associates had a louder reputation for wit than his own, so it was his modest habit to father upon that professed diseur de bons mots any more pointed epigram that occurred spontaneously to himself. “I wonder,” said a dandy of
another dandy who was no Adonis, “why on earth —— has suddenly taken to cultivate those monstrous red whiskers.” “Ah,” quoth my pleasant fine gentleman, “I think for my part they become his style of face very much; A—— says ‘that they plant out his ugliness.’” For the rest, in all graver matters, if the man he last dined with committed some act which all honest men blamed, my misanthrope evinced his gentle surprise, not at the act, but the blame—“What did you expect?” he would say, with an adorable indulgence, “he was a man— like yourselves!”
Sprung from one of the noblest lineages in Christendom— possessed of a fortune which he would smilingly say “was not large enough to allow him to give a shilling to any one else,” but which, prudently spent on himself, amply sufficed for all the elegant wants of a man so emphatically single—this darling of fashion had every motive conceivable to an ordinary understanding not to be himself that utter rogue which he assumed every other fellow-creature to be. Nevertheless, he was too nobly consistent to his creed to suffer his example to be at variance with his doctrine; and here he had an indisputable advantage over Timon and Alceste, who had no right, when calling all men rogues, to belie their assertion by declining to be rogues themselves. His favourite amusement was whist, and in that game his skill was so consummate that he had only to play fairly in order to add to his income a sum which, already spending on himself all that he himself required, he would not have known what to do with. But, as he held all men to be cheats, he cheated on principle. It was due to the honour of his philosophy to show his utter disdain of the honour which impostors preached, but which only dupes had the folly to practise. If others did not mark the aces and shuffle up the kings as he did, it was either because they were too stupid to learn how, or too cowardly to risk the chance of exposure. He was not as stupid, he was not as cowardly, as the generality of men. It became him to show his knowledge of their stupidity and his disdain of their cowardice. Bref—he cheated!—long with impunity: but, as Charron says, L’homme se pique—man cogs the dice for his own ruin. At last he was suspected, he was watched, he was detected. But the first thought of his fascinated victims was not to denounce, but to warn him—kindly letters conveying delicate hints were confidentially sent to him: he was not asked to disgorge, not exhorted to repent; let bygones be bygones, only for the future,
would he, in playing with his intimate associates, good-naturedly refrain from marking the aces and shuffling up the kings?
I can well imagine the lofty smile with which the scorner of men must have read such frivolous recommendations to depart from the philosophical system adorned in vain by his genius if not enforced by his example. He who despised the opinions of sages and saints—he to be frightened into respecting the opinions of idlers at a club!—send to him an admonition from the world of honour, to respect the superstitions of card-players! as well send to Mr Faraday an admonition from the world of spirits to respect the superstitions of table-rappers! To either philosopher there would be the same reply —“I go by the laws of nature.” In short, strong in the conscience of his opinion, this consistent reasoner sublimely persevered in justifying his theories of misanthropy by his own resolute practice of knavery, inexcusable and unredeemed.
“What Timon thought, this god-like Cato was!”
But man, whatever his inferiority to the angels, is still not altogether a sheep. And even a sheep only submits to be sheared once a year; to be sheared every day would irritate the mildest of lambs. Some of the fellow-mortals whom my hero smiled on and plundered, took heart, and openly accused him of marking the aces and shuffling up the kings. At first his native genius suggested to him the wisdom of maintaining, in smiling silence, the contempt of opinion he had hitherto so superbly evinced. Unhappily for himself, he was induced by those who, persuaded that a man of so high a birth could never have stooped to so low a peccadillo, flattered him with the assurance of an easy triumph over his aspersers—unhappily, I say, he was induced into a departure from that system of action which he had hitherto maintained with so supreme a success. He condescended, for the first time in his life, to take other men into respect—to regard what might be thought of him by a world he despised. He brought an action for libel against his accusers. His counsel, doubtless by instruction, sought to redeem that solitary inconsistency in his client, by insinuating that my lord’s chosen associates were themselves the cheats, malignant conspirators against the affable hawk of quality in whom they had expected to find a facile pigeon.
