Railroads are an important form of transport. With many railroads being old and heavily used, inspecting them is essential to ensure safety. Rail track inspection is the process of examining railroads for flaws that may cause catastrophic accidents. Many effects influence railroad defects. They include thermal stresses, shear stresses, wheel or rail contact stresses, dynamic effects and residual stresses.
The defects that are caused by rolling contact failure or contact stresses include gauge corner cracking, tongue lipping and squats. Other kinds of internal and surface defects that can take place on a railway include inclusions, corrosion, shelling, seams, wheel burn and transverse fissures. If water and other liquids are present on railway tracks, they can cause crack propagation.
Some of the parts that may have include the head, web, bolt holes switchblades, welds and foot. The head of the railroad usually suffers the largest number of flaws but it is important to have other parts inspected also. To detect defects on railroads, engineers use different methods with ultrasound being the most popular. The other methods that these professionals use include magnetic flux leakage, electromagnetic acoustic transducer, eddy current inspection, radiography and magnetic particle inspection.
Railroad inspection techniques are used in different ways. The transducers and probes can be utilized in a hand pushed trolley and in a handheld setup. Transducers and probes are ideal to use when small sections of a railroad needs to be inspected or to inspect a precise location. Most often, these devices are used to follow up on the indications made by rail inspection cars.
Engineers find handheld devices useful for inspecting railway tracts that are heavily used since they can easily be removed. However, they may not use these devices to inspect thousands of miles of railroad since they are considered to be slow and tedious. Rail inspection cars are the preferred method when it comes to examining thousands of miles of railroad.
Railroad inspection cars use several non destructive testing techniques. Induction and ultrasound testing methods can be used in cars, which operate at speeds exceeding 30 miles per hour. These vehicles are equipped with high speed computers, which utilize advanced programs to recognize patterns. They also have storage space, tool cabinets, and workbenches.
Specialized laser scanners are also used to perform railroad inspections. They are usually used to measure the rail gauge. After railroad inspections identify potential problems, work crews are hired to rectify the problems. All trains that are using that particular stretch of railway are notified that repair crews are in the area. Special warning and speed limits are issued to train crews.
In most cases, train traffic in a specific area is rerouted around a stretch of railroad track to allow for repairs to be carried out. If extensive repairs such as switch repair, crossing repair or tie replacement have to be carried out, train traffic can be stopped in an area until the repairs are completed. If a train gets derailed, the most recent railroad inspections are examined to identify if there was a pre existing problem with the railroad track. If repeated problems occur on a given stretch of track, a special inspection is carried out to evaluate the problem and seek to arrive at a solution.
The defects that are caused by rolling contact failure or contact stresses include gauge corner cracking, tongue lipping and squats. Other kinds of internal and surface defects that can take place on a railway include inclusions, corrosion, shelling, seams, wheel burn and transverse fissures. If water and other liquids are present on railway tracks, they can cause crack propagation.
Some of the parts that may have include the head, web, bolt holes switchblades, welds and foot. The head of the railroad usually suffers the largest number of flaws but it is important to have other parts inspected also. To detect defects on railroads, engineers use different methods with ultrasound being the most popular. The other methods that these professionals use include magnetic flux leakage, electromagnetic acoustic transducer, eddy current inspection, radiography and magnetic particle inspection.
Railroad inspection techniques are used in different ways. The transducers and probes can be utilized in a hand pushed trolley and in a handheld setup. Transducers and probes are ideal to use when small sections of a railroad needs to be inspected or to inspect a precise location. Most often, these devices are used to follow up on the indications made by rail inspection cars.
Engineers find handheld devices useful for inspecting railway tracts that are heavily used since they can easily be removed. However, they may not use these devices to inspect thousands of miles of railroad since they are considered to be slow and tedious. Rail inspection cars are the preferred method when it comes to examining thousands of miles of railroad.
Railroad inspection cars use several non destructive testing techniques. Induction and ultrasound testing methods can be used in cars, which operate at speeds exceeding 30 miles per hour. These vehicles are equipped with high speed computers, which utilize advanced programs to recognize patterns. They also have storage space, tool cabinets, and workbenches.
Specialized laser scanners are also used to perform railroad inspections. They are usually used to measure the rail gauge. After railroad inspections identify potential problems, work crews are hired to rectify the problems. All trains that are using that particular stretch of railway are notified that repair crews are in the area. Special warning and speed limits are issued to train crews.
In most cases, train traffic in a specific area is rerouted around a stretch of railroad track to allow for repairs to be carried out. If extensive repairs such as switch repair, crossing repair or tie replacement have to be carried out, train traffic can be stopped in an area until the repairs are completed. If a train gets derailed, the most recent railroad inspections are examined to identify if there was a pre existing problem with the railroad track. If repeated problems occur on a given stretch of track, a special inspection is carried out to evaluate the problem and seek to arrive at a solution.
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