Monitoring bolt tightness of rail joints using axle box acceleration measurements. Issue 2 (17th February 2016)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Oregui, M.; Li, S.; Núñez, A.; Li, Z.; Carroll, R.; Dollevoet, R.
• Is Part Of: Structural control and health monitoring. Volume 24:Issue 2(2017)
• Page Start: n/a
• Page End: n/a
• Publication Date: 2016-02-17
• Subjects: rail joint -- bolt tightness -- axle box acceleration measurement -- health condition monitoring -- characteristic frequency; Structural engineering -- Periodicals; Structural control (Engineering) -- Periodicals; Automatic data collection systems -- Periodicals; Detectors -- Periodicals; 624.17
• DOI: 10.1002/stc.1848
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1545-2255

Abstract

Summary: Rail joints are a weak component in railway tracks because of the large impact and wheel‐rail contact forces. Every train passage contributes to the deterioration of rail joints, causing visible (e.g., battered rails) and invisible (e.g., loose bolts) damages. The invisible damage cannot be detected by the commonly performed visual inspection, which is labor intensive, unreliable, intrusive, and unsafe. In this paper, a vehicle‐borne monitoring system is used to automatically detect and assess the tightness condition of bolts at rail joints. The monitoring method is developed based on field axle box acceleration (ABA) measurements using different bolt tightness conditions. The suitability of the method is assessed by bolt tightness prediction and verification of a set of rail joints in the tram network of Sheffield, UK. The results show that ABA system can be employed to monitor bolt tightness conditions at rail joints. With this information, better planning for selective preventive maintenance actions can be taken over rail joints. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.