TY - JOUR
T1 - IMAGE ANALYSIS FOR DETECTING THE TRANSVERSE PROFILE OF WORN-OUT RAILS
AU - Guerrieri, Marco
AU - Parla, Giuseppe
PY - 2012
Y1 - 2012
N2 - Abstract — Over its useful life a railway track is subject to many mechanical and environmental stresses which gradually lead to its deterioration. Monitoring the wear condition of the railway superstructure is one of the key points to guarantee an adequate safety level of the railway transport system; in this field, the use of high-efficiency laser techniques has become consolidated and implemented in diagnostic trains (e.g. the “Archimede train” and the “Talete train” ) which allow to detect the track geometric parameters (gauge, alignment, longitudinal level, cross level, superelevation defect, etc.) and the state of rail wear (vertical, horizontal, 45-degree etc.) with very high accuracy. The objective of this paper is to describe a new non-conventional procedure for detecting the transverse profile of worn-out rails by means of image-processing technique. This methodological approach is based on the analysis of the information contained in high-resolution photographic images of rails and on specific algorithms which allow to obtain the exact geometric profile and the measurement of the relevant deviations compared to new rails of the same typology.The analyses and the first results, obtained from laboratory researches, concern rails cross sections taken from railway lines under upgrading. The procedure has shown high precision in the wear evaluation as well as great rapidity in being performed.
AB - Abstract — Over its useful life a railway track is subject to many mechanical and environmental stresses which gradually lead to its deterioration. Monitoring the wear condition of the railway superstructure is one of the key points to guarantee an adequate safety level of the railway transport system; in this field, the use of high-efficiency laser techniques has become consolidated and implemented in diagnostic trains (e.g. the “Archimede train” and the “Talete train” ) which allow to detect the track geometric parameters (gauge, alignment, longitudinal level, cross level, superelevation defect, etc.) and the state of rail wear (vertical, horizontal, 45-degree etc.) with very high accuracy. The objective of this paper is to describe a new non-conventional procedure for detecting the transverse profile of worn-out rails by means of image-processing technique. This methodological approach is based on the analysis of the information contained in high-resolution photographic images of rails and on specific algorithms which allow to obtain the exact geometric profile and the measurement of the relevant deviations compared to new rails of the same typology.The analyses and the first results, obtained from laboratory researches, concern rails cross sections taken from railway lines under upgrading. The procedure has shown high precision in the wear evaluation as well as great rapidity in being performed.
KW - Image Processing
KW - Non-conventional procedure
KW - Image Processing
KW - Non-conventional procedure
UR - http://hdl.handle.net/10447/64095
M3 - Article
VL - 2
JO - GSTF INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL ON COMPUTING
JF - GSTF INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL ON COMPUTING
SN - 2010-2283
ER -