Author(s)

B.M. Steyn, J.F.W. Pretorius & F. Burger

Abstract

Development, testing and operation of an Ultrasonic Broken Rail Detector System B. M. Steyn1,2, J. F. W. Pretorius1,2 & F. Burger3 1RailSonic, South Africa 2Railway Engineering, Spoornet South Africa 3Institute for Maritime Technology, South Africa 1 Background The Sishen-Saldanha iron ore export railway line suffers from unpredictable rail breaks causing a great loss annually to Spoornet. Rail-breaks are however a common phenomena in all railways over the world. This can cause very costly derailments if not detected before the passage of a train. Small amounts of impurities trapped in the metal structure of the rail are potential points of rail defect development. The development of these defects is associated with metal fatigue, which is a function of the loading applied to the rail. Many of the minute irregularities of metal structures in the rail are a given factor of rail manufacturing and will most probably never cause an actual rail break. These irregularities are practically undetectab

Keywords