Sept 2021: Railroad NDT

Presentation Title: Railroad NDT

Speaker: Anish Poudel, Principal Investigator - Nondestructive Evaluation, Transportation Technology Center, Inc

Presentation Summary: Transportation Technology Center Inc. (TTCI) sponsored by the Association of American Railroads (AAR) has researched, helped develop and tested an automated cracked wheel detection system (ACWDS) capable of inspecting wheels on moving trains. The system implements arrays of spring-loaded ultrasonic probes aligned within a segment of a special track. Validation of the system was performed using the heavy axle load (HAL) test train (consist of about 120 cars; each car weighs 39-ton axle load) at Transportation Technology Center (TTC). This train operates nightly at the high tonnage loop (HTL) located at the facility for accelerated service testing (FAST), TTC near Pueblo, CO, and accumulates service wear at a rapid rate. Bi-weekly inspections using the ACWDS detect wheel defects and, once the wheels are alarmed by the ACWDS, conventional hand-UT tests were conducted…