A noise related track maintenance tool for severe wear detection of wheel-rail contact

• An on-board measurement system has been developed that in real time identifies the probability for occurrence and also the exact location of severe wear in the wheelrail contact. Noise generated by the wheel-rail contact is a troublesome side effect both when railway vehicles negotiate curves and run on straight tracks. The concept behind this project is to use this noise as an indicator of the transition from the mild wear regime to the severe/catastrophic wear regime that implies high maintenance cost. At first tribometers were used in a laboratory study to investigate the relationships between wear and the emitted noise. Wear transitions from mild to severe wear were always accompanied by an increase in sound pressure of about 10 dB. The transitions also changed the sound pressure amplitude distribution from a narrow banded to a broader banded distribution. Secondly a full scale test in a small radius curve in a depot was carried out using a metro train, type C20. In agreement with the laboratory tests, the same kind of transfer from mild to severe wear was identified on the full scale tests in the depot. In addition, the sound pressure changed significantly, both in amplitude and in distribution, when transferring from mild to severe wear. By comparing the noise from the inner wheel-rail contact to noise from the outer wheel-rail contact a wear detection parameter for the outer wheel-rail contact is suggested. The third part of this project involves validation of the maintenance tool by operating the instrumented train in normal metro traffic, while at the same time collecting wear particles and making replicate casts of the rail at critical locations in the metro. Further comparison with weather data and a maintenance log has also been performed.

Subject headings

TEKNIK OCH TEKNOLOGIER  -- Maskinteknik (hsv//swe)

ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY  -- Mechanical Engineering (hsv//eng)

Keyword

Maintenance

Noise

Wear

Wheel-rail contact

Acoustic noise

Firing (of materials)

Wear of materials

Wheels

Critical location

Full scale tests

Laboratory studies

Maintenance tools

On-board measurements

Track maintenance

Wheel-rail contacts

Vehicle wheels

Publication and Content Type

ref (subject category)

art (subject category)