Research project: Quiet-Track

Researchers at SKD (Systems and Component Design) are part of a research project named Quiet-Track supported by the EU, FP7. The purpose of their work-package within the Quiet-Track is to develop a noise related track maintenance tool, in the form of an on-board measurement system. As a first step, lab scale tests using a pin-on-disc tribometer were used in order to distinguish how noise changes when the wear mechanism in a sliding contact shifts from normal wear to severe and catastrophic wear. Once the potential for using sound as an indication of severe wear transitions was established, full scale tests were carried out with a rapid transit (metro) train, type C20. The train was equipped with microphones that continuously measured the sound pressure near the wheel rail contact. In order to provoke severe/catastrophic wear, the test train was run in a curve with small radius, and the rails and wheels were carefully cleaned before the tests. The same kind of transfer from mild to severe/catastrophic wear was identified on the full scale test as in the laboratory scale test, confirmed by studying the surface topography and the morphology of the wear particles. Moreover, the full scale test results showed that the sound pressure changed significantly when transferring from mild to severe wear in agreement with the pin-on-disc test results. By comparing noise from the inner wheel/rail contact to noise form the outer wheel/rail contact a wear indication value for the outer wheel/rail contact is suggested in this study. This value can be seen as an advanced parameter from which the probability of severe wear, in the wheel flange/rail gauge face contact of the outer contact, can be estimated. At present, a real time condition monitoring system is set up in Stockholm (Metro line 1) in order to validate the results.