The application of Long Range Ultrasonic

Testing (LRUT) to inspect railway tracks

Carmen Campos Castellanos

Yousef Gharaibeh

NDT Technology Group

TWI

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 Contents
• MonitoRail Project overview
– Rail industry need and market potential
– Limitation of current inspection methods.
– Project challenges
• Long range ultrasonic testing (LRUT)
• The application of guided waves as an inspection
technique.
– Previous work
– Deformation shape of guided waves.
– Investigation of different excitation conditions.
– Experimental trials

• Conclusion and Future work.

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 MonitoRail project overview
• MONITORAIL: “Long range inspection and condition
monitoring of rails using guided waves”

• Partly funded by the FP7 programme (Research for the

benefit of SMEs) over two years

• Project manager: Carmen Campos Castellanos -TWI Ltd

Jackweld

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Rail industry need & market potential
• Recent advances in inspection and NDT techniques
have drastically reduced the incidence of rail breaks.
• However, a residual number of rail breaks still occurs

Rail breaks England, Wales and Scotland (source: Network rail)

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Limitations of the existing NDT techniques

• Limitation in terms of reliability of defect detection (e.g.

internal defects)
• Inspection speed
• Maintenance is carried out in difficult conditions and
often at night
• Inspection can be risky and dangerous operation
• Can not cover the whole section of the rail (constraints
in detecting defects in the rail foot)

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 Current inspection method

RSU Tyre

70 Degree 37 Degree 0 Degree

Probe Probe Probes 0 Degree Probe 70 Rev G, C & F Degree Probes
Coverage Coverage Coverage
37 Fw Degree Probe 70 Fw G, C & F Degree Probes

37 Rev Degree Probe

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Limited defect sensitivity in the foot

Possible Not Not

Possible Possible

• Currently there is no method to detect foot defects other

than those directly beneath the web of the rail.
• Detection of defects in the rail head and web will also be
investigated in order to provide a cost effective solution.

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 Project objectives

• To inspect critical areas where the probability for defects is

high and there is limited access to carry out the conventional
NDT techniques.

• To inspect long lengths of rail track from a limited number of

access points.

• To achieve full volumetric coverage of the rail.

• To develop a cost efficient technique

for condition monitoring.

• To extend the life of the rail through

early repairs of rail tracks.

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 Project challenges

• Accessibility

• Environmental conditions:
– Rain/snow
– Temperature -20 to 60 Celsius degrees.
• Interface to rail engineering/ operation staff
• Existing features on the rail attenuates the signal

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 LRUT- Ultrasonic Guided Waves

0 20 Hz 20 kHz 1GHz Frequency

Infra sound Audible sound Ultrasonic Hyper sonic

• Much lower frequency than conventional

ultrasonics
• Equivalent to Lamb waves
• Use a ‘wave guide’ - a regular cross section
• Complex due to large number of wavemodes

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 Conventional Vs LRUT
Conventional Flange
Transducer

Localised Inspection Weld Metal loss

Metal loss
Flange
Teletest® Guided Wave
Tool

100% Inspection Weld Metal loss

Metal loss

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Adopting Guided waves as Long Range
Ultrasonic Inspection technique

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Railway track cross sectional surface
(BS113A)
69.9mm

35.9mm
Head

158.75mm

Web
86.7mm

Foot
11.11mm
139.7mm

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Dispersion Curves (modelling results)

Y Gharaibeh, et all“Investigation of the behaviour of selected ultrasonic guided wave modes to

inspect rails for long-range testing and monitoring” Proceedings of the Institution of Mechanical
Engineers, Part F: Journal of Rail and Rapid Transit, pp. 225: 311 (2011)
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Different possible wave modes for different sections in the railway track.

• Sole existence in
each section in
the railway track.
• Similar vibration
patterns.
• Displacement in
the entire
section suggests
100% coverage
of the cross
sectional surface
of the railway
track.

Y Gharaibeh, et all“Investigation of the behaviour of selected ultrasonic guided wave modes to

inspect rails for long-range testing and monitoring” Proceedings of the Institution of Mechanical
Engineers, Part F: Journal of Rail and Rapid Transit, pp. 225: 311 (2011) Copyright © TWI Ltd 2011
Wave mode characterisation (Dispersion
Curves in the foot)

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 Wave mode (F7) characterisation

Displacement distribution across the width of Deformation shape

the foot of F7 wave mode of the F7 wave mode

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 Wave mode (F4) characterisation

Displacement distribution across the width of Deformation shape of

the foot of F4 wave mode the F4 wave mode

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 Wave mode (F2) characterisation

Displacement distribution across the width of Deformation shape of

the foot of F2 wave mode the F2 wave mode

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Investigating different excitation
conditions

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Excitation of F2 scenario 1

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Excitation of F2 scenario 2

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Excitation of F2 scenario 3

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 Experimental trials

• TWI rail
– feature free

• Birmingham University rail

– features: weld and clips

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TWI sample -Transducer arrangement

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Surface preparation and Sensor
attachment

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Defect addition

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Defect detection sensitivity
Time Domain Signal

Amplitude (mv)
4
Dead
3 Zone

0
0 300 500 1,000 1,500 2,000 2,500 3,000
Time (us)

(a)
Time Domain Signal

defect 2mm
Amplitude (mv)

4
Dead
Zone
3

0
0 300 500 1,000 1,500 2,000 2,500 3,000
Time (us)

(b)
Time Domain Signal

5
defect 4mm
Amplitude (mv)

4
Dead
Zone
3

0
0 300 500 1,000 1,500 2,000 2,500 3,000
Time (us)

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Birmingham University rail sample

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 Work plan

• To determine the effect in the wave mode

propagation caused by common rail features
such as clips and welds.
• To identify responses due to the rail features
and to monitor the signal over time in order to
detect any significant change over time that
might indicate the presence of a defect.
• This work is still in progress.

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 Conclusion
• The characteristics of ultrasonic guided waves in the
rail complex geometrical profile have been identified

• A suitable wave mode with full volumetric coverage in

has been identified for each section of the rail.
– F2 has been selected as the wave mode most suitable to
inspect the foot

• An improved excitation/reception conditions has been

proposed.

• Defect detection sensitivity test have been conducted

• Experimental validations of the models are in progress

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 Future work
• Improving of the quality of the propagated wave by
using:
– Minimise coherent noise.
– Apply phase delay.
– Apply signal weighting technique.
– Enhanced signal to noise ratio.
• Further experimental validations using
– Railway track with feature free specimen
– Railway track with clamps mounted on the
specimen.
• Further signal processing analysis is needed.
• Investigate exisiting wave modes in the rail head with
respect to the problem definition.

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 MONITORAIL acknowledgement

MONITORAIL is collaboration between the following organisations:

TWI Ltd, Vermon SA, OpenPattern, Aerosoft S.p.A, Jackweld Ltd,
Network Rail Infrastructure Ltd, Cereteth and Brunel University. The
Project is co-ordinated and managed by TWI Ltd. and is partly funded
by the EC under the Collaborative project programme- Research for
SMEs & Research for SME Associations. Grant Agreement Number.
26219.

Jackweld

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Thanks for your attention

Questions?

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