U-RAIL
Non-contact Ultrasonic System for Rail track Inspection
Informazioni Generali
- Coordinatore:
- TECNOGAMMA (Italia)
- Responsabile ENEA:
- CAPPABIANCA CLAUDIO - (CASACCIA)
- Ruolo ENEA:
- PARTNER
- Sito WEB:
- Sito WEB non disponibile
Descrizione e Attività
Descrizione Generale
Periodic in-track rail inspections are performed to detect critical defects before they grow enough to cause structural failure. Nondestructive inspection (NDI) technologies currently used worldwide rely mainly on conventional ultrasonic technologies. Thes e use water filled rubber wheels, containing transmitter-receiver piezoelectric transducers, that are kept in continuous contact to the rail running surface. These methods have limitations as they require contact conditions between the inspection probes an d the surface of the rail track. Although such contact ultrasonic methodologies have been extensively and successfully used in detecting many surface-breaking and internal cracks, and are proved to be reliable, they are not perfect. In fact, train derailme nts caused by broken rails, which pass inspection, still occur. Defect detectability may be affected by rail surface condition, railhead geometry, defect geometry and orientation, electrical and/or mechanical noise introduced into the transducer, and inade quate transducer-to-rail surface coupling. Moreover, inspection speeds are very low to maintain constant coupling between the two parts. In an effort to improve rail track inspections, this project proposes a non-contact ultrasonic system for periodic in-field inspections of rail tracks that has recognized advantages over conventional technologies currently available to the railroad industry. In particular, the system, consisting of a pulsed laser and an air-coupled transducer, has the following advantages : flexibility to discover cracks that are not detectable with methods currently available to the railroad industry; inspection is non-contact and remote; presence of oxides or oil on the rail surface enhances laser generation; inspection speed can be higher than with contact methods. The feasibility study, the development and the manufacture of a prototype will prove the capability of the proposed inspection technique for in-track rail flaw defect detection.
Attività svolta da ENEA
L'ENEA ha il compito di determinare le caratteristiche e le capacità del sistema di ispezione dei binari ferroviari, oggetto del progetto, per verificare l'effettiva possibilità di rilevazione dei difetti e la ripetibilità delle misure; tutto quanto per verificare che il nuovo sistema sia in grado di rilevare le stesse tipologie di difetti, attualmente rivelabili con una velocità di corsa lungo i binari ferroviari non superiore ai 45 km/h con una velocità di 100 km/h o superiore.
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Programmi Europei
- Programma:
- Sesto Programma Quadro UE (2002-2006) → PMI - Ric. Cooperativa (2002-2006) (PMI - Progetti per le piccole e Medie Imprese)
Dati Finanziari (in euro)
Costo Eleggibile
- Progetto:
- 1.524.776,00
- ENEA:
- 105.600,00
Contributo
- Al progetto:
- 1.044.428,00
- A ENEA:
- 105.600,00
Durata del Progetto
- Anno di stipula e Durata:
- 2004 - 27 mesi
- Periodo:
- 01-11-2004 → 31-01-2007