Condition monitoring of railway transition zones using acceleration measurements on multiple axle boxes: Case studies in the Netherlands, Sweden, and Norway

Railway transition zones connecting conventional embankments and rigid struc-tures, such as bridges and tunnels, usually degrade much faster than other railway sections. Efficient health condition monitoring of transition zones is important for preventative track maintenance. In this paper, a methodology for monitoring rail-way transition zones...

A Self Bias-flip Piezoelectric Energy Harvester Array without External Energy Reservoirs achieving 488% Improvement with 4-Ratio Switched-PEH DC-DC Converter

With the advent of the lnternet-of-Things (1oT) era, sensor nodes are required in almost all fields to achieve a better interaction between humans and the environment. Piezoelectric energy harvester (PEH), which exhibits an equivalent electrical model of an AC current source /P in parallel with the inherent capacitor CP, is a promising...

A Simulation Study on Characterizing Transfer Functions of Railway Tracks Using Train-Borne Laser Doppler Vibrometer

Due to train load and aging, the dynamic properties of railway tracks degrade over time and deviate over space, which should be monitored to facilitate track maintenance decisions. A train-borne laser Doppler vibrometer (LDV) can directly measure track vibrations in response to the moving train load, which can be potentially applied to large...

Binding crystalline solids at low temperatures

Crystalline solids are solid materials whose constituent atoms, molecules, or ions are arranged in a highly regulated fashion. Due to lack of rotational freedom in their stacking, they have been known as fragile materials. Even though some efforts have been dedicated to bind or mend defects/cracks in amorphous materials like concrete or polymers...