Drive-by detection of railway track stiffness variation using in-service vehicles

Abstract

Railway track stiffness is an important track property which can help with the identification of maintenance related problems. Railway track stiffness can currently be measured using stationary equipment or specialised low-speed vehicles. The concept of using trains in regular service to measure track stiffness, has the potential to provide inexpensive daily 'drive-by' track monitoring to complement data collected by less-frequent monitoring techniques. A method is proposed in this paper for the detection of track stiffness variation through an analysis of vehicle accelerations resulting from the vehicle-track dynamic interaction (VTI). The Cross Entropy optimisation technique is applied to determine the track stiffness profile that generates a vehicle response that best fits the measured vertical accelerations of a railway carriage bogie. Numerical validation of the concept is achieved by using a 2-dimensional half-bogie dynamic model, representing a railway vehicle, to infer a global track stiffness profile along a track. The Track Stiffness Measurement Algorithm (TSMA) is implemented in Matlab. This paper reports the results of the numerical simulations. The proposed method gives good estimates of the track stiffness. To the authors' knowledge this is the first time an optimisation technique has been applied to the determination of railway track stiffness.

Drive-by Damage Monitoring of Transport Infrastructure Using Direct Calculation of the Profile

“…In past work, the railway track is represented using a beam-on-elastic-foundation model [1]. This model features a single layer of discrete elastic springs.…”

“…Railway tracks are subject to reductions in stiffness due to deteriorating foundations and to permanent fatigue deformations that result in a change in the track profile. The objective of this research is to identify local reductions of profile or stiffness that can help with the identification of problems related to track settlement, vehicle-ride comfort, track geometry and even groundborne vibrations [1]. Railway track stiffness can currently be measured using specialised medium-speed vehicles or stationary equipment.…”

Railway Track Monitoring Using Train Measurements: An Experimental Case Study

“…These measurements have been used for several health monitoring purposes in the literature, as summarized in Table 1. Track profile Stiffness profile, elevation profile [11,[17][18][19] 3 Others Track replacement, tamping, rail bump and rail surface irregularities [20][21][22][23] In the context of railway track components, Wei et al [13] investigate the degradation of a railway crossing while using real train axle box measurements over time. They show that uneven deformation between the wing rail and crossing nose and local irregularity in the longitudinal slope of the crossing nose can be identified.…”

“…Several researchers have proposed using inertial measurements to find the railway track stiffness profile. Quirke et al [18] propose the use of drive-by measurements to detect railway track stiffness variation while using an optimization algorithm. Although their method provides good accuracy, it is computationally expensive and it has not been confirmed by experimental data.…”

Estimation of Cement Asphalt Mortar Disengagement Degree Using Vehicle Dynamic Response

“…Li and Au [12] suggested a multistage damage detection method based on modal strain energy and a genetic algorithm to determine the location of damage in a two-span continuous bridge. Quirke et al [13] proposed a method to estimate railway track stiffness using a cross-entropy optimization technique. Li et al [14] employed a method based on the generalized pattern search algorithm to identify bridge parameters indirectly using a passing vehicle.…”