Increase of Railway Transportation Safety by a New Method of Determination of Wheel Pair and Rail Wear and Damage

Abstract

As a result of interaction between the wheel pairs and rails during rolling stock movement, lateral, longitudinal and torsional creep forces are created. Over the long term these forces cause wear and damage of the wheel pairs and rails. Accordingly railway safety decreases and the probability of derailment increases. Development of modern railways largely depends on controlling the proper functionality of wheel pairs and rails. It is impossible to ensure safety and increase the speed of railway traffic without providing such control. Detection of the wheel pair and rail wear damage is one of the key problems of railway science. Many scientific studies have been performed and a number of devices have been developed in this field, but the mentioned problem still remains urgent. In order to increase railway safety, the authors of this paper have proposed a conceptual design of a mobile device for detection of wheel pair and rail wear and damage. Such a device does not currently exist. By installation of the proposed device on each wheel pair of each railcar, the automatic control of wheel pair and rail condition will be achieved. Namely: • Detection of the worn out wheel pair and determination of the degree of wear; • Detection of the damaged wheel pair; • Identification of the worn out or damaged wheel pair. Also possible, on the basis of elaborated mathematical model: • Detection of the worn out rail; • Detection of the damaged rail; • Identification of location of the worn out or damaged rail. Information obtained from the device would be constantly connected to the locomotive computer system. Therefore, for checking rolling stock, there could no longer be a need to build expensive stationary systems or to move trains great distances for their inspection. As a result, the time lost due to equipment stoppage will be saved. Also, with the help of the proposed mobile device, railway safety could improve, while at the same time expenses for detection of wheel pair wear and damage could potentially decrease. This could result in significant economic savings.