Journal article
Noncontact Ultrasonic Guided Wave Detection of Rail Defects
Transportation research record, v 2117(2117), pp 77-84
01 Jan 2009
Featured in Collection : UN Sustainable Development Goals @ Drexel
Abstract
Recent train accidents, increasing tonnage, and aging rail transportation infrastructure have reaffirmed the need to improve current rail inspection technologies, consisting primarily of ultrasonic wheel testing. A recent development in rail inspection is the use of ultrasonic guided waves in the 20 kHz to 1 MHz range and noncontact probing techniques. This paper first reports on theoretical studies of ultrasonic guided wave propagation in rails based on a semianalytical finite element approach. The paper then describes the latest version of the University of California, San Diego, and FRA rail defect detection prototype, which is based on noncontact guided wave testing and real-time statistical pattern recognition for defect detection and classification. The system specifically targets transverse head cracks such as transverse fissures and detail fractures. It is also expected to be sensitive to longitudinal head cracks such as vertical split heads and mixed-mode cracks such as compound fractures. The system was field tested in March 2008 at speeds of up to 10 mph with excellent results under changing environmental conditions. Plans are in place for further improvements, including higher test speeds of up to 40 mph and installation of the system in an FRA research car for technology demonstration.
Metrics
Details
- Title
- Noncontact Ultrasonic Guided Wave Detection of Rail Defects
- Creators
- Stefano Coccia - Univ Calif San Diego, NDE & Struct Hlth Monitoring Lab, La Jolla, CA 92093 USAIvan Bartoli - Univ Calif San Diego, NDE & Struct Hlth Monitoring Lab, La Jolla, CA 92093 USASalvatore Salamone - Univ Calif San Diego, NDE & Struct Hlth Monitoring Lab, La Jolla, CA 92093 USARobert Phillips - Univ Calif San Diego, NDE & Struct Hlth Monitoring Lab, La Jolla, CA 92093 USAFrancesco Lanza di Scalea - Univ Calif San Diego, NDE & Struct Hlth Monitoring Lab, La Jolla, CA 92093 USAMahmood Fateh - FRA, Off Res & Dev, Washington, DC 20590 USAGary Carr - FRA, Off Res & Dev, Washington, DC 20590 USA
- Publication Details
- Transportation research record, v 2117(2117), pp 77-84
- Publisher
- Natl Acad Sciences
- Number of pages
- 8
- Grant note
- National Science Foundation; National Science Foundation (NSF) FRA ENSCO, Inc.
- Resource Type
- Journal article
- Language
- English
- Academic Unit
- Civil, Architectural, and Environmental Engineering
- Web of Science ID
- WOS:000272963600010
- Scopus ID
- 2-s2.0-76149088783
- Other Identifier
- 991020547609204721
UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)
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InCites Highlights
Data related to this publication, from InCites Benchmarking & Analytics tool:
- Web of Science research areas
- Engineering, Civil
- Transportation
- Transportation Science & Technology