Damage Detection in Railway Prestressed Concrete Sleepers using Acoustic Emission
IOP Conference Series: Materials Science and Engineering 2017
Andrew Clark, Sakdirat Kaewunruen, Rims Janeliukštis, Mayorkinos Papaelias

Prestressed concrete sleepers (or railroad ties) are safety-critical elements in railway tracks that distribute the wheel loads from the rails to the track support system. Over a period of time, the concrete sleepers age and deteriorate in addition to experiencing various types of static and dynamic loading conditions, which are attributable to train operations. In many cases, structural cracks can develop within the sleepers due to high intensity impact loads or due to poor track maintenance. Often, cracks of sleepers develop and present at the midspan due to excessive negative bending. These cracks can cause broken sleepers and sometimes called 'center bound' problem in railway lines. This paper is the world first to present an application of non-destructive acoustic emission technology for damage detection in railway concrete sleepers. It presents experimental investigations in order to detect center-bound cracks in railway prestressed concrete sleepers. Experimental laboratory testing involves three-point bending tests of four concrete sleepers. Three-point bending tests correspond to a real failure mode, when the loads are not transferred uniformly to the ballast support. It is observed that AE sensing provides an accurate means for detecting the location and magnitude of cracks in sleepers. Sensor location criticality is also highlighted in the paper to demonstrate the reliability-based damage detection of the sleepers.


Atslēgas vārdi
concrete sleepers; acoustic emission; bending; emission energy
DOI
10.1088/1757-899X/251/1/012068
Hipersaite
http://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1757-899X/251/1/012068/meta

Clark, A., Kaewunruen, S., Janeliukštis, R., Papaelias, M. Damage Detection in Railway Prestressed Concrete Sleepers using Acoustic Emission. No: IOP Conference Series: Materials Science and Engineering, Latvija, Rīga, 27.-29. septembris, 2017. Riga: IOP Publishing, 2017, 1.-7.lpp. ISSN 1757-8981. e-ISSN 1757-899X. Pieejams: doi:10.1088/1757-899X/251/1/012068

Publikācijas valoda
English (en)
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