Objective
Axles for railway trains are carefully engineered and high value items that are designed to last 20 years or more. There is however a current trend for axles to be withdrawn from service before this because of corrosion on the surface long before their design lives. The decision to withdraw from service is taken without the full knowledge of the way in which the failure will result from corrosion, as this requires a crack to initiate and the mechanism for this is unknown. Cracks in axles can also initiate from ballast strikes and electrical faults. The failure rate is about 2 axles per year in the UK. If these withdrawals take place while a train is in-service there is a consequent significant cost associated while the train is out of service for additional maintenance. Inspection of the axles for cracking takes place at intervals set by knowledge of crack growth rates and inspection sensitivities. The most sensitive inspection methods are surface inspection methods designed for crack detection (such as MPI, eddy current and ACFM) and these do not typically attempt to measure the corrosion. However inspection of axles while the train is in service is still required and this is inconvenient and costly for the train operators. WOLAXIM aims to provide three new and better methods of crack detection and corrosion assessment for railway axle inspection. One method is for the exposed body of the axles (intended primarily for freight wagon or passenger trailing axles) and can be carried out automatically as the vehicles pass an inspection station that could be installed in carriage sidings or marshalling yards. A second method is specifically for the hollow axles of high speed trains and aims to improve the speed of the inspection and improve crack detection reliability. This could be deployed while the train is in depot overnight and without dismantling of the wheelset. The third method is to improve the measurement of corrosion and therefore the sentencing of corro
Topic(s)
Call for proposal
FP7-SME-2010-1
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Funding Scheme
BSG-SME - Research for SMEsCoordinator
CB21 6AL Cambridge
United Kingdom