Development of an Axial Strain Measurement System for Rails
Publication: Journal of Performance of Constructed Facilities
Volume 35, Issue 1
Abstract
Train derailments caused by buckled or broken rail continue to be both a safety and economic concern for North America’s railway industry. These track failures are often attributed to excessive axial stresses in continuous welded rail (CWR) caused by thermal stresses under daily or seasonal variations in temperature. Improved monitoring systems, with the capability of detecting axial stress in CWR, are needed. The distributed nature and long-distance measurement ranges offered by fiber-optic sensors (FOS) may offer a potentially optimal solution for rail stress monitoring. This paper investigates the ability of two FOS systems (based on Rayleigh and Brillouin backscatter) to measure axial strain in rails under various boundary and environmental conditions. The performance of three alternative fiber types, differing based on ruggedness and installation effort, were also tested in the interest of creating an optimized field monitoring system. The effect of temperature on strain measurements led to the development of thermal correction factors for each analyzer/fiber combination. The application of this monitoring system in the field was then explored using both systems on a CWR track in Ottawa, Canada.
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Data Availability Statement
All data that support the findings of this study, which include fiber-optic strain, strain gauge, and temperature data, are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.
Acknowledgments
The authors are thankful to the Natural Sciences and Engineering Council and the National Research Council Canada for providing financial support for this research. And for offering valuable technical assistance, the authors are grateful to Ali Roghani, Jack Poldon, Makenzy Arsenault, Ryan Collison, Kevin Mackie, and Tom Davies as well as Dr. Artur Guzik from Neubrex Co., Ltd.
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Published In
Journal of Performance of Constructed Facilities
Volume 35 • Issue 1 • February 2021
Copyright
© 2020 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Nov 5, 2019
Accepted: Sep 18, 2020
Published online: Dec 9, 2020
Published in print: Feb 1, 2021
Discussion open until: May 9, 2021
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