An Integrated Approach for Characterizing the Dynamic Behavior of the Wheel–Rail Interaction at Crossings

Abstract

This paper describes an approach for characterizing the dynamic behavior of the vehicle/track interaction at railway crossings. In the approach, we integrate in situ axle box acceleration (ABA) measurements with roving-accelerometer hammer tests to evaluate the influence of train speed, train moving direction (facing and trailing directions), sensor position (leading and rear wheels of a bogie), and the natural response of track structure on ABA signals. The analysis of data from multiple sensors contributes to the following findings: the major frequency bands of the vertical ABA are related to the natural frequencies of the crossing; thus, these ABA frequency bands are not greatly affected by variations in train speed, moving direction, and sensor position. The vibration energy concentrated at the major ABA frequency bands increases at higher train speeds, along the facing moving direction and from the leading wheel. The crossing rails vibrate as a combination of bending and torsion rather than solely bending at the major ABA frequency bands, since the vibrations of the wing rails are not synchronized. These results help enhance our understanding of the vehicle/track interaction at crossings and can be used to improve the dynamic response-based system for monitoring the condition of crossings.

A Novel Method for Railway Crossing Monitoring Based on Ambient Vibration Caused by Train-Track Interaction

“…It is challenging to identify the shapes of these high-order modes because the current test setup only covers a part of the crossing nose. A more complicated setup, such as the one in [5], or a numerical model, would help to clarify these modes. Fig.…”

“…The dynamic behavior of the train-track interaction at railway crossings has been investigated using both numerical simulations [1][2][3] and field measurements [4][5][6]. Impact tests [3,5] and pass-by (or trackside) measurements [2,6] are two primary ways to identify the dynamic characteristics of a railway crossing. The impact test method is broadly accepted as a standard method for the identification of railway track dynamics.…”

“…The main advantage of the impact test is that the input excitation (usually with a hammer) can be measured so that the frequency response function (FRF) can be directly derived. However, previous studies [2][3][4][5][6] focus more on the dynamics of the crossing nose while ignoring its coupling with the substructures, e.g. the sleeper and ballast.…”

Pareto-Based Maintenance Decisions for Regional Railways With Uncertain Weld Conditions Using the Hilbert Spectrum of Axle Box Acceleration

“…A technology capable of (1) shortwave irregularity detection and (2) the capture of the dynamic response of welds is needed [16]. ABA measurement systems with these capabilities have been reported in different countries: the detection of lateral and vertical track irregularities in Korea [17]; the evaluation of wheel load fluctuation and rolling noise in Japan [18]; the detection of corrugations in Poland [19] and Italy [20]; the detection of rolling contact fatigue defects, damaged welds, and insulated joints in the Netherlands ( [21], [22]); and the analysis of vertical track geometry in Spain [23]. ABA system implementation has different advantages: (1) ABA is a low-cost measurement system compared to other types of detection methods.…”

Analysis on mechanical characteristics of welded joint with a new reinforced device in high-speed railway

“…Murray and coworkers 3 and Alam et al 4,5 investigated the dynamic contact force and impact forces generated by the train-track interaction due to wheel flats. Wei et al 6 and Xu et al 7 characterized the dynamic behavior of the train-track interaction at railway crossings. Wolfs and coworkers, 8 Bezin et al, 9 Zhong et al, 10 and Liu and Zhai 11 studied the influence of creepages, rail roll, wheelset deformation, and polygonal wheel on the wheel-rail contact, respectively.…”