Health condition monitoring of insulated joints based on axle box acceleration measurements

Abstract

a b s t r a c tThis paper presents a health condition monitoring system for insulated rail joints (IRJs) based on axle box acceleration (ABA) measurements. The ABA signals from all the wheels of the measuring train are processed to extract those characteristics that better represent the quality of the IRJ. Then, different indicators are used for damage assessment, the most relevant being a set of frequency bands in the ABA power spectrum. A detection algorithm is proposed based on the derived frequency characteristics of the ABA signal. We compared the responses of IRJs in good condition with those in poor condition. Track inspections were performed to validate the health condition monitoring methodology in different IRJs of the Dutch railway network. The hit rate of IRJs detection was 84% for two validated tracks. The damage assessment procedure allowed to prioritize the IRJs that require maintenance. This information is useful for the railway inframanagers as it allows to predict where safety compromises will be faced.

Dynamic Response of Wheel-Rail Interaction at Rail Weld in High-Speed Railway

“…High-frequency vibration generated on the wheel-rail surface under excitation of all kinds of irregularities can be easily transferred to the axle box. However, previous studies on the axle-box acceleration [14][15][16][17] have only focused on the use of response of the axle-box acceleration in frequency domain to monitor defects without any threshold proposed for safety running. In this section, based on results of Section 3, dynamic wheel-rail force and axle-box acceleration are used to establish a quantitative relation.…”

“…Obvious fluctuations of axlebox acceleration were generated at the damage. Molodova et al [15,16] carried out corresponding tests of axle-box acceleration (with the vehicle speed of 100 km/h) against some damage occurring at weld joints on site with preliminary establishment of a health monitoring system that can detect components in bad service statuses. Molodova et al [17] simulated the changes of axle-box acceleration at shortwave irregularities of rail at a speed of 140 km/h by using 3D explicit finite element model and results conforming to the site test were obtained.…”

Observation and Simulation of Axle Box Acceleration in the Presence of Rail Weld in High-Speed Railway

“…However, upon considering the vibration mode, the wheel/rail contact geometry relationship becomes complex and difficult to solve because of the bending and torsion of the wheel/rail systems. In recent years, a new method-the explicit finite element (FE) method-has been used to solve problems of high-frequency wheel/rail rolling contact [6,15,[19][20][21][22][23]. This method abandons three basic assumptions including infinite half space, steady rolling, and linear elastic materials of the classic contact algorithms such as Kalker's CONTACT [22].…”

“…Obvious fluctuations in ABA were generated at the defects that were confirmed via time-frequency technology according to research findings to be damage on the wheels or rails. Molodova and Li [15] carried out a series of ABA tests targeted at monitoring the health of some preliminary damage (e.g., rail squats, rail pad degradation, and fastening cracks) occurring at weld joints on site; the results showed an obvious difference between rail welds that were in good and poor condition. On this basis, Li [16] put forward three approaches to improve the success rate of monitoring.…”

Pareto-Based Maintenance Decisions for Regional Railways With Uncertain Weld Conditions Using the Hilbert Spectrum of Axle Box Acceleration

“…A technology capable of (1) shortwave irregularity detection and (2) the capture of the dynamic response of welds is needed [16]. ABA measurement systems with these capabilities have been reported in different countries: the detection of lateral and vertical track irregularities in Korea [17]; the evaluation of wheel load fluctuation and rolling noise in Japan [18]; the detection of corrugations in Poland [19] and Italy [20]; the detection of rolling contact fatigue defects, damaged welds, and insulated joints in the Netherlands ( [21], [22]); and the analysis of vertical track geometry in Spain [23]. ABA system implementation has different advantages: (1) ABA is a low-cost measurement system compared to other types of detection methods.…”