Condition-based Maintenance of High-speed Train Wheels Through Trackside Monitoring

Abstract

Condition-based maintenance (CBM) is a promising strategy in reducing the operating cost for modern high-speed rail (HSR), especially for train wheelsets. This paper presents a research effort on wheel defect detection in high-speed trains by devising a fiber Bragg grating (FBG)-based online monitoring system deployed on rail tracks to detect both wheel local defect and wheel polygonization during the passage of in-service high-speed trains. A diagnostic algorithm is developed using the online monitoring rail response to automatically identify both potential wheel local defects and polygonal wears. The devised monitoring system is then deployed on a test track to experimentally verify its capability to detect wheel defects. Two blind tests are conducted by running a train with potential wheel local defects and wheel polygonization on the instrumented rail, respectively. Results indicate that both local defects and polygonal wears can be identified with high fidelity, with the identified results being in good agreement with the results of radius deviation measurement later conducted offline in a depot.