Using Magnetic Barkhausen Noise Technology and Numerical Method to Study the Condition of Continuous Welded Rails on Australian Heavy Axle Track

摘要

The Magnetic Barkhausen Noise (MBN) technology has been equipped within smart designed equipment-RailScan, which is designed to measure the longitudinal stress distribution along the CWR track. A series of in-field verifications and data comparison on Australian heavy haul tracks ( North Coast Line and Broken Hill Line) have shown the results from that system are highly accurate and reliable. The system can be an accuracy and cost-effective tool to prevent the potential buckling and break of CWR rail. Moreover, based on the a-nalysis of the data from in-field measurement, the behavior of longitudinal stress (neutral temperature) distribution on the sharp curve CWR tracks also have been further studied. Combined with the finite element study, it has been found that: Firstly, the neutral temperature is not evenly distributed. The neutral temperature is lower at the circular curve and higher at its transition curves. Secondly, bending stress in the rails that installed on the sharp curves can influence the thermal stress distribution in the longitudinal direction and it seems it is sensitive with the radius of the curve.