Development of an Algorithm for Detecting Railway Corrugations in Acceleration Data

摘要

Train speed is increasing every year. This leads to stricter requirements for the railway quality. Due to intensive operation the railroad track quality is constantly decreasing. It includes corrugations, which may emerge as the result of railway’s exposure to constant vibration and high temperatures. This article considers the development of algorithm which allows detecting corrugations using indications of micromechanical accelerometers installed on the railcar’s axle boxes. This algorithm is based on forming the envelope line of the detected signal using Hilbert transform, followed by identification of defects by their amplitude value. Afterwards the potential corrugation is distinguished from other obtained defects by its duration value. Further analysis is conducted using the digital signal processing method.