Rail Pad Corrosion Effects on the Dynamic Behavior of Direct Fixation Track Systems in Marine Environments

This study experimentally investigated the effects of rail pad corrosion on the performance of the direct fixation track on a long-span railway bridge in marine conditions. In this study, the dynamic behavior of a direct fixation track on a railway bridge in the presence of corroded rail pads, was determined. Field measurements in this study show that the replacement of corroded rail pads does not affect the track support stiffness. The hard rail pads used in direct fixation tracks are intended to provide electrical insulation rather than flexural track behavior, and so their influence on track support stiffness was found to be insignificant given their high spring stiffness. Additionally, samples of new and corroded rail pads were collected and the spring stiffness of rail pads were analyzed using static, dynamic, and aging tests. The spring stiffnesses of new and corroded rail pads were found to be similar. This means that spring stiffness is not significantly affected by corrosion, a finding that could be explained by the fact that the deformation due to passing train loads was extremely small. Therefore, even though the rail pads on the study bridge exhibited some surface corrosion, their function was not impaired, and they did not need replacement.

Monitoring of railway vehicles and infrastructure by portable dynamic scale

The article presents the devices for monitoring loads in railway transport, developed and manufactured by the Adaptronica company. Dynamic scales utilize portable transducers fixed in a non-invasive way to the rail foot. Load identification is based on the measurements of rail deformations caused by a passing train. The article presents the results obtained during the monitoring of railway lines, characterized by significant intensity of train traffic. Histograms of axial load values of the tested vehicles were determined. The measurements’ results were verified with the results obtained with a reference static scale or with the results obtained during passage of locomotives with a given mass. Keywords: portable dynamic rail scale, weight in motion, railway infrastructure monitoring

Energy harvesting from passing train as source of energy for autonomous trackside objects

This paper deals with an energy harvesting review and analysis of an ambient mechanical energy on a trackside during a passing of a train. Trains provide very high level of vibration and deformation which could be converted into useful electricity. Due to maintenance and safety reasons a rail trackside includes sensing systems and number of sensor nodes is increased for modern transportation. Recent development of modern communication and ultra-low power electronics allows to use energy harvesting systems as autonomous source of electrical energy for these trackside objects. Main aim of this paper is model-based design of proposed vibration energy harvesting systems inside sleeper and predict harvested power during the train passing. Measurements of passing train is used as input for simulation models and harvested power is calculated. This simulation of proposed energy harvesting device is very useful for future design.

Design and Manufacture of Dynamic Screw Measurements on Railways

Checking elevation differences due to deflection on the railroad (skilu) is needed to ensure the safety of train travel. Skilu measurements can be done with a measuring train and a manual densometer. For manual measurement, we need tools that can measure dynamic elections more accurately and efficiently. This research is intended to make these tools using ultrasonic proximity sensors with data processing by a microcontroller. The measurement accuracy of the experimental results of this tool is obtained by comparing the densometer deflection gauge. The results show that the tool can measure elections every 0.1 second (realtime) with an accuracy rate of 98.84%. In addition to the election measurements, this tool can also measure the speed of a passing train and the rail temperature when a train passes. The measurement results can help optimize the care needed for the election that occurs at the observation site.