vendredi 28 mars 2014

Techniques Used In Rail Inspection

By Gwen Lowe


Catastrophic rail failures are considered one of the main factors that facilitate most of the railway transportation accidents. In reference to a recent research that was conducted to evaluate matters associated with railway transportation safety, one of the main causes of these failures is poor railway maintenance. However, people have developed different rail inspection technologies to aid reduce such problems.

The use of high-tech ultrasound devices is among the main methods that aid in detecting flaws in rails. The devices work by passing on short ultrasonic pulse waves with center frequencies of less than one to fifteen MHz to the rails that are then send back into the device in form of an interface of the fault. The results would be displayed on the device in form of an amplitude signal that represents both the distance and the intensity of the received waves.

The application of self-induced eddy currents is also a great way to detect faults in railways. This is achieved by distributing eddy currents on the surface of conductors, which in turn induces a magnetic field. Normally, the electrical conductivity strength of such metals depends on the strength of the magnetic field. Lower conductivity in the rails would mean the rails have faults hence need for repairs.

Radiography technology also plays a great role when inspecting rails for faults. This works in such a way that electromagnetic waves like x-rays would be transmitted into the interior of certain rails at very high frequencies. The waves would then come out in image form of the interior structure of such materials where a high-tech devices would be used to read the image details to determine whether there are faults.

Another popular technique utilized to detect flaws in rails is by use of magnetic particle inspection. This practice is used to inspect metals like nickel, iron and cobalt for faults. This works through the induction of a magnetic flux towards the surface of such metals. If the metal has discontinuity flaws, the magnetic flux would leak since air cannot contain the same magnetic area per volume like metals.

The use of rail assessment cars is also common when detecting faults on railways. These cars are installed with high-tech probes and transducers on the examination boards that aid in the process of testing mileage and other sight problems on rails. The average speed at which these cars can move in kilometers per hour is mostly estimated to be not less than forty-eight.

Another common way to detect faults on rails is by use of electromagnetic acoustic transducers. These are designed to work by passing electromagnet waves on conductors, which would then create certain waves. The obtained waves would be then read through certain devices to check for faults.

Whenever traveling by trains, people always have the desire of arriving safe. However, in frequent cases some train travelers do not reach their destinations safely and comfortably with some of the causes being faults within the rail tracks. To be able to reduce such failures, there are various methods that have been developed to enable people have easier time whenever examining rails for flaws.




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