The development of laboratory downscale rail-wheel test rig model with optical sensors

Abstract

Railway and train condition monitoring are two critical components in assuring passenger safety and comfort during their journey. In this work, a new laboratory downscale rail test rig has been designed and developed for exploring rail-wheel interaction and axle peak detection using fiber Bragg grating (FBG) optical sensors. This paper describes the laboratory setup’s development process which includes numerical analysis of rail model, review of different experimental techniques, followed by 1:3 scaled model, mechanical and functional analysis of the railway setup with the grating sensor. By employing various data processing techniques axle peak detection of train was done and strain/stress transfer was calculated by the train passage to the rail track which was ∼100.86 µɛ. Total wavelength shit in the FBG sensor was 0.133 nm due to wheel load and sensitivity value was calculated approximately 1.36 pm/µɛ for the wavelength/strain changes. Characteristics of 1:3 laboratory rail test rig such as track retention, number of wheels, axle peak detection, rail-wheel rolling contact, stress/strain track deformation can be obtained in real time with fiber Bragg grating sensors.