A Comprehensive Review on Rail Wheel Crack Inspection System

Abstract

The railways are one of the most used means of transport globally and especially in India which is the second largest in the world. Almost more than 140 accidents per year Indian Railways are noting down and 48% of the accidents are due to wheel misalignment of the bogies. Wheel cracks are one of the foremost reasons for the misalignment, and the failure in the wheel causes the derailment of train from the rails. Therefore, periodical inspection of the wheels is necessary to avoid such accidents and disasters. Several Non Destructive Testing (NDT) methods that are quick, reliable and cost effective are utilized for the detection of defects. In this work, a comprehensive review on the numerous NDT inspection methods used for the detection of several types of cracks that occurs on the rail wheels along with their advantages and disadvantages are discussed in detail.