Citation

Liu X, Markine VL. Sensors (Basel) 2020; 20(8): e2278.

Affiliation

Department of Engineering Structures, Delft University of Technology, 2628 CN Delft, The Netherlands.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2020, MDPI: Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute)

DOI

10.3390/s20082278

PMID

32316386

Abstract

This paper presents the investigation of the root causes of the fast degradation of a railway crossing. The dynamic performance of the crossing was assessed using the sensor-based crossing instrumentation, and the measurement results were verified using the multi-body system (MBS) vehicle-crossing model. Together with the field inspections, the measurement and simulation results indicate that the fast crossing degradation was caused by the high wheel-rail impact forces related to the hunting motion of the passing trains. Additionally, it was shown that the train hunting was activated by the track geometry misalignment in front of the crossing. The obtained results have not only explained the extreme values in the measured responses, but also shown that crossing degradation is not always caused by the problems in the crossing itself, but can also be caused by problems in the adjacent track structures. The findings of this study were implemented in the condition monitoring system for railway crossings, using which timely and correctly aimed maintenance actions can be performed.

Language: en

Keywords

numerical verification; railway crossing; railway track maintenance; train hunting; wheel-rail impact