A SYSTEM FOR MONITORING THE CONDITION OF STRUCTURAL ELEMENTS AND A METHOD OF DEVELOPING SUCH A SYSTEM.

摘要

A system for monitoring the condition of elongate structural elements, for example, railway rails, and a method of designing and manufacturing the system is disclosed. The method includes identifying and selecting suitable modes of propagation and signal frequencies that can be expected to travel large distances through an elongate structural element; designing a transducer that will excite the selected mode at the selected frequency; numerically modelling the transducer as attached to the elongate structural element; validating the transducer design by analyzing a harmonic response of the selected mode of propagation to excitation by the transducer, and manufacturing one or more transducers for use in the system.