Track profile approximation using railcar body acceleration data.

Details

• Creators:
  Al-Nazer, Leith
• Corporate Creators:
  United States. Federal Railroad Administration. Office of Research and Development
• Subject/TRT Terms:
  Acceleration (Mechanics) Accelerometers Railroad Cars Railroads Railroad Tracks Ride Quality Suspension Systems Vibration
• Publication/ Report Number:
  DOT/FRA/ORD-14/42
• Resource Type:
  Tech Report
• Geographical Coverage:
  United States
• Corporate Publisher:
  United States. Federal Railroad Administration. Office of Research and Development
• Abstract:
  Accelerations are frequently measured from the car body of a rail vehicle, which is mounted above one or more suspension
  
  systems. Measuring accelerations in the car body is largely done for convenience, as mounting an accelerometer to a truck or axle
  
  of a railcar is more cumbersome than simply placing an accelerometer inside the railcar body. For those involved with track
  
  research, maintenance, and safety, there is a desire to correlate these car body accelerations with track conditions. However, a
  
  railcar suspension system acts as a filter that can interfere with taking precise acceleration measurements. To complicate matters
  
  further, the railcar body, in combination with the suspension system, has several natural modes of vibrations. As a result, some
  
  accelerations that exceed a predefined threshold measured from the railcar body do not correlate with track conditions. Thus, the
  
  use of acceleration data in this manner to accurately and reliably identify track defects or exceptions may be hampered--
  
  potentially triggering further inspection by railroad personnel when unnecessary--or masking such indicators. This report puts
  
  forth a simplified model of a railcar and a corresponding deconvolution filter (also known as an inverse filter) which theoretically
  
  eliminates the amplification and attenuation effects of the railcar suspension system
  
  
• Format:
  PDF
• Collection(s):
  US Transportation Collection Federal Railroad Administration
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha256:88c248c27de8774de57a46d7064e5e86e853d8103db4c4b7132d9d963819fcbb
• Download URL:
  https://rosap.ntl.bts.gov/view/dot/28986/dot_28986_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 1.08 MB ]