Evaluation of onboard sensors for track geometry monitoring against conventional track recording measurements

TL;DR

This study evaluates onboard MEMS accelerometers installed on trains for track geometry monitoring, demonstrating their effectiveness in estimating vertical and horizontal track alignments compared to traditional methods.

Contribution

The paper introduces a prototype onboard data acquisition system using MEMS accelerometers and validates its effectiveness in track condition assessment.

Findings

Bogie-mounted accelerometers provide good estimates of vertical alignment.

Lateral accelerometers correlate well with traditional measurements.

Two accelerometers can effectively estimate track geometry.

Abstract

The main objective of this paper is to assess the estimation of track condition parameters using onboard micro-electro-mechanical-system (MEMS) accelerometers. A prototype of an onboard data acquisition system was designed and installed on a track recording car (TRC) and a measurement campaign was conducted on an extensive portion of the Brisbane Suburban railway network. Comparison of the accelerometer-based results vs TRC recordings have shown that accelerometers installed on the bogie are the best compromise between proximity to the source and insensitivity to impulsive noise. It was found that two vertical bogie accelerometers (left and right) provide a good quantitative estimate of vertical alignment and that strong correlations with TRC measurements exist for lateral MEMS accelerometer measurements (horizontal alignment). These findings suggest that two bogie MEMS accelerometers with vertical and lateral measurement axes are effective in estimating geographical distributions of vertical/horizontal alignment.