This report describes the work conducted over the past two decades on rail integrity research sponsored by the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) and carried out by the Volpe National Transportation Systems Center. The research has involved both experimental and analytical studies on the subject of rail integrity. Brief descriptions of these various studies are given in this report for four different subtopics: analysis of rail defects, analysis of stresses in rail, strategies for rail inspection and testing, and other areas related to rail integrity research. These other areas of rail integrity research include advances in nondestructive inspection techniques, feasibility of advanced materials for rail, rail lubrication, and rail grinding and wear. The descriptions generally emphasize the development of analytical tools based on engineering principles that can provide rational strategies for dealing with rail aging due to service usage.
This rail technology review provides assistance to a number of rail technology programs initiated by the Transportation Systems Center (TSC) for the F...
This report is the second in a three-part series describing the technical contributions of the Federal Railroad Administration and the Volpe National ...
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