Active interpolation and correction for on-machine measurements of wheel tread profiles

Abstract On-machine measurements with high efficiency and accuracy are widely used in industrial fields. The measurement of the profile form is an indispensable part of on-machine measurement. To improve the on-machine measurements of wheel tread profiles in rail vehicles, active interpolation and correction were investigated in this study. Based on non-uniform rational B-spline, an active interpolation model was proposed, following the error analysis of profile measurements. Active interpolation optimized the measured profile form by refining the profile to approximate the theoretical profile form. Subsequently, correction was employed to confirm the accuracy and reliability of the interpolation. Furthermore, combining active interpolation with error tracking can suppress the errors generated by interpolation calculations and the outliers in measurement data. A simulation was conducted to determine the feasibility and effectiveness of the proposed method, and the simulation results indicated that the profile errors were suppressed. Then, active interpolation and correction were applied to the on-machine measurement of a wheel tread profile, the measurement accuracy of the wheel tread profile reached a satisfactory level. As independent measurement data processing, active interpolation and correction improved the on-machine measurement of wheel tread profiles and can be applied to a set of industrial measurements.