Recent train accidents, with associated direct and indirect costs as well as safety concerns, have reaffirmed the need for developing rail defect detection systems that are more effective than those used today. One of the recent developments in rail inspection is the use of ultrasonic guided waves and noncontact probing techniques to target transverse-type defects. Besides the obvious advantages of noncontact probing, which include robustness and potential for large inspection speed, such a system can detect transverse defects under horizontal shelling or head checks. A rail inspection prototype based on these concepts and funded by the FRA is under development at the University of California–San Diego. This work reports on the status of the prototype development, including hardware and software development. Key features of the software are the feature extraction and the automatic pattern recognition algorithms. The laboratory results demonstrate the detection and sizing of transverse, surface-breaking cracks that extend for less than 20% of the rail head cross-sectional area.


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    Title :

    Laser–Air-Coupled Hybrid Noncontact System for Defect Detection in Rail Tracks


    Subtitle :

    Status of FRA Prototype Development at University of California–San Diego


    Additional title:

    Transportation Research Record: Journal of the Transportation Research Board




    Publication date :

    2006-01-01




    Type of media :

    Article (Journal)


    Type of material :

    Electronic Resource


    Language :

    English





    Laser-Air-Coupled Hybrid Noncontact System for Defect Detection in Rail Tracks Status of FRA Prototype Development at University of California-San Diego

    di Scalea, Francesco / Rizzo, Piervincenzo / Coccia, Stefano et al. | Transportation Research Record | 2006


    Laser based and air coupled ultrasound as noncontact and remote techniques for testing of railroad tracks

    Kenderian, S. / Boro Djordjevic, B. / Green, R.E. jun. | Tema Archive | 2002


    Noncontact Ultrasonic Guided Wave Detection of Rail Defects

    Coccia, Stefano / Bartoli, Ivan / Salamone, Salvatore et al. | Transportation Research Record | 2009