A High Accuracy and High Speed Imaging and Measurement System for Rail Corrugation Inspection

In order to decrease the noise and vibration of operation in railway tracks, it is necessary to inspect the status of them frequently. A main task in inspection of railway tracks is measurement of rail corrugation. The rail corrugation occurs during operation due to wear. The dynamic component of the vertical wheel-rail contact force, as induced by rail corrugation is an important source to vibration. Also, according to the corrugation wavelength and railway vehicle speed, a dynamic excitation is generated which is an important source to noise. It is essential to utilize a system to check the rail corrugation. In this article, a new measurement system based on image processing is proposed to perform the corrugation measurement in a reliable manner, while traditional measurement systems are based on acceleration measurement or chord measurement and they are not reliable due to physical contact or need for knowing the characteristics of the track. The proposed system is based on laser triangulation principle using image processing to measure the rail corrugation precisely and quickly. This approach is an efficient technique for high-speed and high-accurate rail corrugation measurement. Experimental results show the capability of the system for practical usages.