Structural health monitoring of rail structures using flexural wave propagation

Abstract

Experimental method to inspect the structural damage in railway systems using flexural wave propagations is proposed. The vibration response of the rail clamped and supported by viscoelastic pad is significantly influenced by its frequency-dependent variation of the support properties. When the defect occurs at the clamping device, the flexural wave propagation characteristics change due to discontinuity in structural properties. This change was monitored from frequency dependent variation of the complex support stiffness obtained using the beam transfer function method. The sensitivity of the wave propagations on the defect was obtained using the potential energy estimated from the predicted response of the continuous spring supported rail. Using the sensitivity and the monitored change of the dynamic stiffness, the damage index was calculated from which the location of the defect was identified.