Analysis of Local Track Discontinuities and Defects in Railway Switches Based on Track-Side Accelerations
Switches are an essential, safety-critical part of the railway infrastructure. Compared to open tracks, their complex geometry leads to increased dynamic loading on the track superstructure from passing trains, resulting in high maintenance costs. To increase efficiency, condition monitoring methods...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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MDPI AG
2024-01-01
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| Series: | Sensors |
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| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/1424-8220/24/2/477 |
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| author | Susanne Reetz Taoufik Najeh Jan Lundberg Jörn Groos |
| author_facet | Susanne Reetz Taoufik Najeh Jan Lundberg Jörn Groos |
| author_sort | Susanne Reetz |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Switches are an essential, safety-critical part of the railway infrastructure. Compared to open tracks, their complex geometry leads to increased dynamic loading on the track superstructure from passing trains, resulting in high maintenance costs. To increase efficiency, condition monitoring methods specific to railway switches are required. A common approach to track superstructure monitoring is to measure the acceleration caused by vehicle track interaction. Local interruptions in the wheel–rail contact, caused for example by local defects or track discontinuities, appear in the data as transient impact events. In this paper, such transient events are investigated in an experimental setup of a railway switch with track-side acceleration sensors, using frequency and waveform analysis. The aim is to understand if and how the origins of these impact events can be distinguished in the data of this experiment, and what the implications for condition monitoring of local track discontinuities and defects with wayside acceleration sensors are in practice. For the same experimental configuration, individual impact events are shown to be reproducible in waveform and frequency content. Nevertheless, with this track-side sensor setup, the different types of track discontinuities and defects (squats, joints, crossing) could not be clearly distinguished using characteristic frequencies or waveforms. Other factors, such as the location of impact event origin relative to the sensor, are shown to have a much stronger influence. The experimental data suggest that filtering the data to narrow frequency bands around certain natural track frequencies could be beneficial for impact event detection in practice, but differentiating between individual impact event origins requires broadband signals. A multi-sensor setup with time-synchronized acceleration sensors distributed over the switch is recommended. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-08T09:47:17Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-1736224adce84ef796b867096decb6f1 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1424-8220 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-08T09:47:17Z |
| publishDate | 2024-01-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Sensors |
| spelling | doaj.art-1736224adce84ef796b867096decb6f12024-01-29T14:15:10ZengMDPI AGSensors1424-82202024-01-0124247710.3390/s24020477Analysis of Local Track Discontinuities and Defects in Railway Switches Based on Track-Side AccelerationsSusanne Reetz0Taoufik Najeh1Jan Lundberg2Jörn Groos3Institute of Transportation Systems, German Aerospace Center (DLR), 38108 Braunschweig, GermanyDepartment of Civil, Environmental and Natural Resources Engineering, Division of Operation, Maintenance and Acoustics, Luleå University of Technology, 97187 Luleå, SwedenDepartment of Civil, Environmental and Natural Resources Engineering, Division of Operation, Maintenance and Acoustics, Luleå University of Technology, 97187 Luleå, SwedenInstitute of Transportation Systems, German Aerospace Center (DLR), 38108 Braunschweig, GermanySwitches are an essential, safety-critical part of the railway infrastructure. Compared to open tracks, their complex geometry leads to increased dynamic loading on the track superstructure from passing trains, resulting in high maintenance costs. To increase efficiency, condition monitoring methods specific to railway switches are required. A common approach to track superstructure monitoring is to measure the acceleration caused by vehicle track interaction. Local interruptions in the wheel–rail contact, caused for example by local defects or track discontinuities, appear in the data as transient impact events. In this paper, such transient events are investigated in an experimental setup of a railway switch with track-side acceleration sensors, using frequency and waveform analysis. The aim is to understand if and how the origins of these impact events can be distinguished in the data of this experiment, and what the implications for condition monitoring of local track discontinuities and defects with wayside acceleration sensors are in practice. For the same experimental configuration, individual impact events are shown to be reproducible in waveform and frequency content. Nevertheless, with this track-side sensor setup, the different types of track discontinuities and defects (squats, joints, crossing) could not be clearly distinguished using characteristic frequencies or waveforms. Other factors, such as the location of impact event origin relative to the sensor, are shown to have a much stronger influence. The experimental data suggest that filtering the data to narrow frequency bands around certain natural track frequencies could be beneficial for impact event detection in practice, but differentiating between individual impact event origins requires broadband signals. A multi-sensor setup with time-synchronized acceleration sensors distributed over the switch is recommended.https://www.mdpi.com/1424-8220/24/2/477railwayswitchaccelerationfault diagnosistrack superstructuresquat |
| spellingShingle | Susanne Reetz Taoufik Najeh Jan Lundberg Jörn Groos Analysis of Local Track Discontinuities and Defects in Railway Switches Based on Track-Side Accelerations Sensors railway switch acceleration fault diagnosis track superstructure squat |
| title | Analysis of Local Track Discontinuities and Defects in Railway Switches Based on Track-Side Accelerations |
| title_full | Analysis of Local Track Discontinuities and Defects in Railway Switches Based on Track-Side Accelerations |
| title_fullStr | Analysis of Local Track Discontinuities and Defects in Railway Switches Based on Track-Side Accelerations |
| title_full_unstemmed | Analysis of Local Track Discontinuities and Defects in Railway Switches Based on Track-Side Accelerations |
| title_short | Analysis of Local Track Discontinuities and Defects in Railway Switches Based on Track-Side Accelerations |
| title_sort | analysis of local track discontinuities and defects in railway switches based on track side accelerations |
| topic | railway switch acceleration fault diagnosis track superstructure squat |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/1424-8220/24/2/477 |
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