Continuous Track Stiffness Measurement : An Effective Method To Investigate The Structural Conditions Of The Track

• Vertical track stiffness and its variations along the track are important parameters that affect the conditionof the track, in particular the deterioration of track geometry and ballast degradation. The track stiffness isalso an important factor that has to be considered when upgrading the track for traffic of higher axle loads and higher speeds. Within the EU project EUROBALT II, Banverket (Swedish National Rail Administration) has developed a method to continuously measure the vertical track stiffness. Recently,Banverket has made further improvement of the method and carried out extensive measurements in Sweden using our track-loading test vehicle. Different combinations of excitation frequency and speedhave been tested. The measurement results have shown a significant correlation with actual geotechnical conditions and depth of soil layers. The measurement method has also shown very good repeatability. In this paper, we introduce the method of continuous track stiffness measurement and report the promising results we have obtained. It can be concluded that the continuous track stiffness measurement provides an effective way to investigate the structural condition of the track and should be a very useful tool for determining the cause of certain track problems.

Subject headings

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

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

Keyword

Vehicle engineering

Farkostteknik

Publication and Content Type

ref (subject category)

kon (subject category)