Kansas State Team Developing In-Track Measurement for Rail Stress
Written by Jennifer McLawhorn, Managing Editor
Courtesy of ZagAlex via Shutterstock
MANHATTAN, Kan. - Engineers from Kansas State University are working to develop advanced technology to monitor stress in tracks without physical contact.
According to KCLY, this work is funded through $300,000 in grants from the USDOT Federal Railroad Administration. Professor B. Terry Beck from the Carl R. Ice College of Engineering secured the funding. In partnership with civil engineering professor and co-principal investigator Robert J. Peterman, K-State’s Technology Development Institute engineering director John Bloomfield, mechanical engineering master’s and doctoral candidate Veeshal Modi, and BNSF, the team is working to develop this technology.
Detecting rail stress in a number of extreme temperatures whilst trains are consistently carrying heavy loads is necessary to prevent derailments and other rail-related issues. Extreme heat can lead to buckling due to stress. Extreme cold can lead to fractures within the rail. There are a number of rail flaw detection methods, some of which have been showcased in Railway Track & Structures‘ Vendor Spotlights. However, these methods necessitate contact with the rail in some capacity.
Professor Beck said, “Currently, no proven non-contact method exists for accurately assessing and monitoring the state of rail stress. . . The proposed method is based on existing robust field-hardened non-contact strain-measurement technology.”
The project undertaken at Kansas State will monitor rail neutral temperature and the state of rail stress “through simultaneous non-contact measurement of rail axial displacement and rail temperature.” Professor Beck went to say that the team will develop and demonstrate this new method using ” a special-purpose test frame in a laboratory on campus and through field testing on continuously welded steel railroad rail in cooperation with BNSF Railway.”
Professor Beck continued, “The solution to this problem is considered by many to be the ‘holy grail’ of the railroad industry. . . This work represents a completely new paradigm for continuous practical assessment of the state of rail stress.”
