Abstract
Non-destructive rail testing and evaluation based on guided waves need accurate information about the mode propagation characteristics, which can be obtained numerically with the exact material properties of the rails. However, for rails in service, it is difficult to accurately obtain their material properties due to temperature fluctuation, material degradation and rail profile changes caused by wear and grinding. In this study, an inverse method is proposed to identify the material elastic constants of in-service rails by minimizing the discrepancy between the phase velocities predicted by a semi-analytical finite element model and those measured using array transducers attached to the rail. By selecting guided wave modes that are sensitive to moduli but not to rail profile changes, the proposed method can make stable estimations for worn rails. Numerical experiments using a three-dimensional finite element model in ABAQUS/Explicit demonstrate that reconstruction accuracies of 0.36% for Young’s modulus and 0.87% for shear modulus can be achieved.
Highlights
In the process of long-term service, rails will experience deterioration of material properties, fatigue damage, stress concentration, even excessive wear, breakage and other phenomena, which seriously threaten the driving safety
We proposed an inverse method for the identification of the elastic constants of in-service rail from phase velocities of selected ultrasonic guided wave modes the elastic constants of in-service rail from phase velocities of selected ultrasonic guided wave modes that propagate in specific areas
Scalograms of three modes curves of rail obtained by semi-analytical finite element (SAFE) method with same elastic constants superimposed
Summary
In the process of long-term service, rails will experience deterioration of material properties, fatigue damage, stress concentration, even excessive wear, breakage and other phenomena, which seriously threaten the driving safety. Ultrasonic-based monitoring and inspection systems require accurate information regarding wave propagation characteristics, such as wavenumber, phase and group velocity dispersion curves. The actual material and geometric properties can significantly affect the propagation characteristics of wave modes in rails [1]. This requires evaluating the material elastic properties of the in-service rail for the implementation of guided wave-based monitoring and inspection system under different conditions of rail wear
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