01340747

Component

https://doi.org/10.3141/2261-16

http://scholar.google.com...Carr&publication_year=2011

The University of California, San Diego (UCSD), with an FRA Office of Research and Development grant, is developing a system for high-speed and noncontact rail defect detection. A prototype was designed and field tested with the support of Volpe National Transportation Systems Center and ENSCO, Inc. The goal of this project was to develop a rail defect detection system that provided (a) better defect detection reliability (including internal transverse head defects under shelling and vertical split heads) and (b) higher inspection speed than achievable by current rail inspection systems. This effort was also in direct response to safety recommendations issued by the National Transportation Safety Board after the disastrous train derailments at Superior, Wisconsin, in 1992 and Oneida, New York, in 2007, among others. The UCSD prototype used noncontact ultrasonic probing of the rail head (laser and air-coupled sensors), ultrasonic guided waves, and a proprietary real-time statistical analysis algorithm that maximized the sensitivity to defects while it minimized false positives. The design allowed potential inspection speeds up to 40 mph, although to date all field tests were conducted up to 15 mph. This paper (a) summarizes the latest technology development test conducted at the rail defect farm of Herzog, Inc., in Saint Joseph, Missouri, in June 2010 and (b) describes the completion of the new rail defect farm facility at the UCSD Camp Elliott Field Station with partial in-kind donations from the Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway.

01364994

11-1346

English

pp 143-147

2011

Transportation Research Record: Journal of the Transportation Research Board

9780309222969

Print

Figures; Photos; References (5)

Algorithms; Defects; Derailments; Flaw detection; Inspection; Maintenance of way; Prototype tests; Railroad tracks; Statistical analysis; Ultrasonic waves

University of California, San Diego

High speed defect detection

Maintenance and Preservation; Railroads; I61: Equipment and Maintenance Methods

TRIS, TRB

Feb 17 2011 5:46PM

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