Home | | Railways and Airports and Harbour Engineering | Theory of Ultrasonic Rail Flaw Detectors

Chapter: Civil : Railway Airport Harbour Engineering : Railway Engineering : Rails

Theory of Ultrasonic Rail Flaw Detectors

Vibration waves of a frequency of more than 20,000 cycles per second are termed as ultrasonic waves. These waves have the property of being able to pass through materials and following the normal principles of light waves of refraction, reflection, and transmission.


Theory of Ultrasonic Rail Flaw Detectors

 

Vibration waves of a frequency of more than 20,000 cycles per second are termed as ultrasonic waves. These waves have the property of being able to pass through materials and following the normal principles of light waves of refraction, reflection, and transmission. Whenever there is a change of medium, some of the ultrasonic energy gets reflected and the rest gets transmitted. The amount of energy reflected depends upon the physical properties of the two media. When travelling through steel, if these waves come across air either from the bottom of the steel or from any flaw inside the steel, the reflection is almost 100%. This property has been found most useful for detecting flaws in rails. Thus, when ultrasonic waves are fed from a location on a rail, they pass through the rail metal and are normally reflected only from the foot. However, if a discontinuity exists in the rail metal due to some flaw, the ultrasonic waves get reflected back from the location of the flaw, which can be picked up and the defect located.

 

Production of ultrasonic waves

 

There are several methods of producing ultrasonic energy. The most common and simple method of producing ultrasonic frequency is by using ' crystal transducers', which normally produce ultrasonic waves of a frequency of up to 15 MHz. The crystals generally used for this purpose are made either of quartz or of barium titanate, cut to special size, shape, and dimensions. These crystals have the peculiar property of changing dimensions and generating vibrations in a particular direction when an oscillating electric charge is applied to the crystal faces. Also, when these crystals are made to vibrate, they produce an oscillating electric current. The crystals, as such, have the potential of generating ultrasonic vibrations, as also of converting the waves received after reflection into electric current. They also possess reversible properties.

 

These crystals are housed in metal holders protected by superior quality Perspex and then termed probes. There are two types of probes used for ultrasonic testing.

 

Normal probe This probe consists of two semi-cylindrical thin crystals with a vertical separating layer through the crystals and Perspex. These probes transmit ultrasonic waves vertically downwards when put on the rail and are suitable for detecting horizontal or inclined flaws, including bolt hole cracks.

 

Angle probe In this probe, crystals are mounted on an angular surface capable of transmitting pulses at an outward angle, which may be forward or backward or both, with separate transmitting and receiving crystals. The waves emitted by these probes follow an inclined path and are suited to detect inclined and vertical defects.

 

Techniques of ultrasonic testing

 

A number of techniques have been used in ultrasonic testing to suit the design of different equipment. Some of these techniques are the following.

 

(a)  Frequency modulation

 

(b) Pulse echo

 

(c)  Transmission

 

(d) Resonance

 

(e)  Acoustic range

 

Indian Railways uses the frequency modulation and pulse echo techniques and only these are discussed in detail here.

 

Frequency modulation technique In instruments utilizing frequency modulation ultrasonic waves are created with the help of a probe crystal and transmitted continuously into the rail at rapidly changing frequencies. It is necessary for the rail head to be wet to enable the ultrasonic waves to pass efficiently from the crystal to the rail. The waves that get reflected from the opposite face are received continuously by the crystal. There is interference between the transmitted waves and the reflected waves, which causes resonance. As the frequencies of the transmitted waves are changing constantly, such resonance takes place at regular intervals. When the position of reflection is changed due to a flaw in the metal, the resonance gets affected, which can be easily detected by the operator. Instruments manufactured on this principle such as the Audi-gauge are light, portable, and simple in mechanism. However, these instruments have certain limitations.

 

Fine vertical cracks are not readily detected because the single vertical probe does not find any surface defect from which it can be reflected.

 

(b) Cracks wholly below bolt holes are also not detected, as the vibrations are interrupted by the hole.

 

Pulse echo system In the pulse echo technique, a pulsed ultrasonic beam of very high frequency is produced by a pulse generator and sent in to the rail. At the opposite face, the ultrasonic waves are reflected and the echo is picked up by the crystal transducers. A discontinuity or defect in the rail will also produce the echo. The time interval between the initial pulse and the arrival of the echoes is measured with the help of a cathode ray tube. There may be multiple reflections of the echo but the one arising due to a fault can easily be determined by its relative position and amplitude.

 

The more sophisticated types of instruments that are based on the pulse echo system are being manufactured by the firm Kraut Kramer at present.

 

Study Material, Lecturing Notes, Assignment, Reference, Wiki description explanation, brief detail
Civil : Railway Airport Harbour Engineering : Railway Engineering : Rails : Theory of Ultrasonic Rail Flaw Detectors |


Privacy Policy, Terms and Conditions, DMCA Policy and Compliant

Copyright © 2018-2024 BrainKart.com; All Rights Reserved. Developed by Therithal info, Chennai.