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Locating and Sizing Rail Head Defects for Rail Head Repair Welds Using Phased Array Ultrasonics

Document Series:
Research Results
Author:
  • Federal Railroad Administration
Report Number
RR 20-16
Office
RDI-21
Subject:
Track
Keywords:
Phased array ultrasound, PAUT, transverse defect, TD, rail head repair, weld repair
Document
Rail Head Repair Welds-A.pdf (723.18 KB)

The study revealed that it is possible to locate defects in the rail head within the desired precision if a recognizable feature such as a bolt hole, rail end, or weld are nearby; that is, the method presented provides an accurate distance from a known datum to within approximately ±0.5 inch.


Last updated: Friday, September 4, 2020