TY - GEN
T1 - Rail contact stress real-time monitoring using ultrasound reflectometry
AU - Zhou, Lu
AU - Brunskill, Henry P.
AU - Lewis, Roger
N1 - Funding Information:
The first author would like to appreciate the funding support by the Innovation and Technology Commission of Hong Kong SAR Government to the Hong Kong Branch of National Rail Transit Electrification and Automation Engineering Technology Research Center (Project No.: K-BBY1).
Copyright:
Copyright 2020 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.
PY - 2017
Y1 - 2017
N2 - The rail stress is vital to lifespan, safety of rail tracks and riding comfort, among which the wheel-rail contact stress is a determining factor to wear, damage, cracks and failure of both wheel and rail. The wheel-rail contact system has been investigated and simulated for years, and a variety of methods have been developed for stress determination, but there is still no robust measuring technique for accurate real-time online stress characterization. The ultrasonic reflectometry technique has been proven successfully in characterizing various static machine-element contacts. The general process is firstly, an ultrasonic wave is emitted through a material that is either fully or partially reflected at an interface. The reflected waveform is then measured and information about the contact can be extracted from the A-Scan. The contact interface mechanism is modelled using a quasi-static spring approach. In this paper, an ultrasound reflectometry measuring method was introduced for rail contact stresses determination, and a set of ultrasonic tools were developed in order to take measurements under various situations. Wheel-rail contact stresses were profoundly investigated. Static contact stresses of normal wheel-rail contact under different normal loads were measured using ultrasonic focusing probe, high resolution images of contact stress distribution were obtained from measurements. Dynamic wheel-rail contact stresses were characterized using array of ultrasonic elements. A pitch-catch measuring technique was introduced for dynamic contact stress measurements, and specific ultrasonic arrays were designed and made for different mounting places. Measurements were taken under different normal loads, and stress distribution image were plotted from the measurements.
AB - The rail stress is vital to lifespan, safety of rail tracks and riding comfort, among which the wheel-rail contact stress is a determining factor to wear, damage, cracks and failure of both wheel and rail. The wheel-rail contact system has been investigated and simulated for years, and a variety of methods have been developed for stress determination, but there is still no robust measuring technique for accurate real-time online stress characterization. The ultrasonic reflectometry technique has been proven successfully in characterizing various static machine-element contacts. The general process is firstly, an ultrasonic wave is emitted through a material that is either fully or partially reflected at an interface. The reflected waveform is then measured and information about the contact can be extracted from the A-Scan. The contact interface mechanism is modelled using a quasi-static spring approach. In this paper, an ultrasound reflectometry measuring method was introduced for rail contact stresses determination, and a set of ultrasonic tools were developed in order to take measurements under various situations. Wheel-rail contact stresses were profoundly investigated. Static contact stresses of normal wheel-rail contact under different normal loads were measured using ultrasonic focusing probe, high resolution images of contact stress distribution were obtained from measurements. Dynamic wheel-rail contact stresses were characterized using array of ultrasonic elements. A pitch-catch measuring technique was introduced for dynamic contact stress measurements, and specific ultrasonic arrays were designed and made for different mounting places. Measurements were taken under different normal loads, and stress distribution image were plotted from the measurements.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85032377980&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.12783/shm2017/14196
DO - 10.12783/shm2017/14196
M3 - Conference article published in proceeding or book
AN - SCOPUS:85032377980
T3 - Structural Health Monitoring 2017: Real-Time Material State Awareness and Data-Driven Safety Assurance - Proceedings of the 11th International Workshop on Structural Health Monitoring, IWSHM 2017
SP - 2912
EP - 2919
BT - Structural Health Monitoring 2017
A2 - Chang, Fu-Kuo
A2 - Kopsaftopoulos, Fotis
PB - DEStech Publications
T2 - 11th International Workshop on Structural Health Monitoring 2017: Real-Time Material State Awareness and Data-Driven Safety Assurance, IWSHM 2017
Y2 - 12 September 2017 through 14 September 2017
ER -