Data-driven ballast layer degradation identification and maintenance decision based on track geometry irregularities

Ballast layer defects are the primary cause for rapid track geometry degradation. Detecting these defects in real-time during track inspections is urgently needed to ensure safe train operations. To achieve this, an indicator, the track degradation rate (TDR) was proposed. This rate is calculated using track geometry inspection data to locate...

Reliability testing for product return prediction

Return of products within the warranty coverage induces additional cost and loss of reputation to manufacturers. It is of practical interest to predict the return rate by experimental means before introducing a product to the market. In this paper, we propose to optimize accelerated reliability tests to achieve the goal within limited time....

Reliability of LED-based systems

Reliability is an essential scientific and technological domain intrinsically linked with system integration. Nowadays, semiconductor industries are confronted with ever-increasing design complexity, dramatically decreasing design margins, increasing chances for and consequences of failures, shortening of product development and qualification...

Accelerated degradation tests with inspection effects

This study proposes a framework to analyze accelerated degradation testing (ADT) data in the presence of inspection effects. Motivated by a real dataset from the electric industry, we study two types of effects induced by inspections. After each inspection, the system degradation level instantaneously reduces by a random value. Meanwhile, the...

Calibration for discrete element modelling of railway ballast: A review

The discrete element method (DEM) has been confirmed as an effective numerical method for modelling railway ballast, and successfully used to analyse a wide range of ballast-related applications (e.g. geomaterials). However, there still exists some aspects under development. Among them, the model calibration can be the most significant one ...