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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License
The Inspection of Level Crossing Rails Using Guided Waves
Mark Evans
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DOI:10.17265/2328-2142/2023.01.003
Guided Ultrasonic Ltd, Brentford TW8 8HQ, UK
Level crossing rails are high risk areas due to the combination of the limited effectiveness of current inspection methods and high corrosion rates which often exist. This paper discusses the current UK standard practices for the periodic inspection of level crossing rails using visual (VT) and conventional ultrasonic (UT) methods. The limitations of these methods are discussed and how these limitations affect the overall maintenance program for level crossings. A new inspection method, guided wave testing (GWT) is then described with particular emphasis on its advantages for inspecting level crossings. Finally, a review is given of the current Network Rail trial of GWT on level crossings using the G-Scan system, with representative results which demonstrate the effectiveness of GWT for this application.
Rails, guided waves, GWT.
[1] RT-CE-S-055 Rail-Testing-Ultrasonic-Procedure, 1998.
[2] NR/L2/TRK/001/MOD09. Issue 5 ‘Inspection and maintenance of permanent way – Rail management’, Network Rail company standard, 2nd June 2012.
[3] BS 9690-1:2011 ‘Non-destructive Testing. Guided Wave Testing. General Guidance and Principles’.
[4] Wilcox, P., Evans, M., Diligent, O., Lowe, M. and Cawley, P. 'Dispersion and excitability of guided acoustic waves in isotropic beams with arbitrary cross section', Review of Progress in Quantitative NDE, Vol 21, DO Thompson and DE Chimenti (eds), American Institute of Physics, pp203-210, 2002.
[5] Wilcox, P., Evans, M., Pavlakovic, B., Alleyne, D., Vine, K., Cawley, P. and Lowe, M. 'Guided wave testing of rail', Insight, Vol 45, pp413-420, 2003.
[6] Wilcox, P., Evans, M.J., Pavlakovic, B., Alleyne, D.N., Vine, K., Cawley, P. and Lowe, M.J.S. 'Long range inspection of rail using guided waves - Field experience', Proc Railway Engineering - 2003, London, 3-4 July, 2003.