United States Department of Transportation
i
Locating and Sizing Rail Head Defects for Rail Head Repair Welds Using Phased Array Ultrasonics [Research Results]
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2020-09-01
[PDF-725.41 KB]
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Abstract:Transportation Technology Center, Inc. (TTCI), as part of a cooperative effort between the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) and Association of American Railroads (AAR), studied a new method to accurately locate rail head defects using onboard phased array ultrasonic testing (PAUT) data for the effective placement of rail head repair welds (HRW). In order for the rail HRW process to be effective, a defect location accuracy of ±1 inch is required. The study revealed that it is possible to locate defects in the rail head within the desired precision if a recognizable feature such as a bolt hole, rail end, or weld are nearby; that is, the method presented provides an accurate distance from a known datum to within approximately ±0.5 inch. The final precision of locating the defect depends on the distance of the defect from the datum as well as the measurement technique used to make the measurement. In the present work, the process of extracting and processing PAUT off-board data, as well as identifying rail head defect features using A-scan signals and associated data, are described.
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