Abstract
There is a broad consensus on the need for cost-effective and reliable methods for measurement of axial stress in railroad rails. Constrained thermal expansions and contractions induce large forces which in turn lead to bucklings and rail breaks. We are developing a new method for such measurements, based on the decrease (increase) of effective dynamic flexural rigidity under the influence of compressive (tensile) loads. Scanned laser vibrometry measurements of vibration fields at a prescribed frequency, followed by a comparison with guided wave theory for the complex cross section of the rail, allows the extraction of flexural wavenumbers. These wavenumbers are in turn related to contained load and to the rail’s intrinsic rigidity. Here we report the ongoing status of this work, describing the results of extensive laboratory measurements on unloaded rail, and test-bay measurements on rails subjected to compressive loads to 100 kip.
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