Wheel-rail impact at an insulated rail joint in an embedded rail system

With dynamic behaviour different from that of traditional discretely supported tracks, continuously supported embedded rail systems (ERSs) have been increasingly used in railway bridges, level crossings, trams, and high-speed lines. However, studies on ERSs have been limited, and none of them have addressed the wheel-rail impact-induced dynamic...

Numerical study of wheel-rail impact contact solutions at an insulated rail joint

This paper presents an analysis of the transient contact solutions of wheel-rail frictional rolling impacts calculated by an explicit finite element model of the wheel-insulated rail joint (IRJ) dynamic interaction. The ability of the model to simulate the dynamic behavior of an IRJ has been validated against a comprehensive field measurement in...

Monitoring bolt tightness of rail joints using axle box acceleration measurements

Rail joints are a weak component in railway tracks because of the large impact and wheel-rail contact forces. Every train passage contributes to the deterioration of rail joints, causing visible (e.g. battered rails) and invisible (e.g. loose bolts) damages. The invisible damage cannot be detected by the commonly performed visual inspection,...

Experimental Investigation Into the Condition of Insulated Rail Joints by Impact Excitation

This paper presents a feasibility study to determine if the health condition of Insulated Rail Joints (IRJs) can be assessed by examining their dynamic response to impact excitation. First, a reference dynamic behavior is defined in the frequency domain of 50-1200 Hz based on field hammer test measurements performed on a IRJ baseline (i.e., a...