Wheel-Rail Interface Condition Estimation (W-RICE)
This research addresses the problem of estimating wheel-rail adhesion conditions for railway maintenance and noise control, which is important for operational safety and environmental impact.
This paper proposes a new method to estimate the adhesion conditions between a wheel and rail by analyzing rolling noise patterns. The presence of third-body materials like frost or grease at the interface significantly alters the adhesion coefficient and influences noise levels.
The surface roughness between the wheel and rail has a huge influence on rolling noise level. The presence of the third body such as frost or grease at wheel-rail interface contributes towards change in adhesion coefficient resulting in the generation of noise at various levels. Therefore, it is possible to estimate adhesion conditions between the wheel and rail from the analysis of noise patterns originating from wheel-rail interaction. In this study, a new approach to estimate adhesion condition is proposed which takes rolling noise as input.