Railway wheel tread inspection by ultrasonic techniques

Railway transport security requires a proper and effective maintenance system to avoid risks and to prevent incidents and accidents. Wheels are a critical part of the train and must be watched very closely. Infrastructure and rolling stock get worse through vibrations and noise caused by irregular rail-wheel contact. Moreover, wheel tread damages found and repaired at an early stage can help to keep the passengers safe and the train in service. Many NDT techniques are used today for wheel monitoring. However, most of them are off-line methods and poorly time-efficient during maintenance processes. This work proposes a different approach, a new inspection system for railway wheels using a dynamic ultrasonic technique. This method can be applied to trains moving at low speed (10-15 Km/h typical) and allows all the wheelsets mounted in a train to be inspected within a few seconds.