Energy harvesting from railway vibrations - A numerical study based on beam-on-elastic-foundation under quasi-static loading

Abstract

The objective of this paper is to investigate energy harvesting of train-induced rail vibrations and to provide a comparison between various feasible harvesting locations based on the expected electrical power output. The vibrations of the railway track are modelled using the beam-on-elastic-foundation model under quasi-static loading. The loading applied is from a passenger train moving at a constant velocity. The vibrations of the railway track are then used to determine the energy harvested at each location using one-degree-of-freedom models. The numerical study concludes that the optimal configuration of the harvester is on the rail for the vibration harvester and as a harvesting rail pad between the sleeper and the rail for the compression harvester. The harvested energy with each configurations is O(∼ 10-6) and O(1) J/kg of harvester, respectively.