Wheel/rail squeal noise of trains gives passengers a very unpleasant feeling. But a successful solution to the squeal problem has not been presented until now. In this study, to find out the basic mechanism of the wheel/rail squeal noise, complex eigenvalue analysis by finite element method was adopted as a numerical tool. The positive real parts of the eigenvalues mean the self-exciting instability of the vibration, which is closely related to the occurrence of squeal noise. The effect of

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... eters such as friction coefficient, wheel/rail contact position, axle load, etc. was examined. It was found that the applied method could simulate unstable modal shapes of the wheel/rail vibration and be used as a good tool for the study of wheel/rail squeal noise.