Work

Detection of Short-Section Ballast Breakdown in Track: A Fractal Analysis Approach with Reduced Window Size

Year: 2024

Type: article

Abstract: Due to increasing demands on the available railway infrastructure, accurate estimates of safety-critical track condition as well as breakdowns of individual track components are crucial. This task can be supported by analyzing track measurement data. Ballast breakdown can be determined by analyzing the longitudinal level using fractal analysis: Commonly, a window with a width of 150 m is dragged over the signal computing an approximation of a fractal dimension of the signal for each position of the window. However, while a large window size can be used to describe the condition of ballast and substructure simultaneously, it fails to precisely localize short-section ballast breakdowns in the track. With the objective of describing and detecting these local effects in the ballast bed, this work analyzes a set of 114 known weak ballast spots. By reducing the width of the sliding window, the position of short-section ballast breakdowns can be reliably depicted. The application of a modified version of fractal analysis allows for a more accurate targeted maintenance on a component-specific basis.

Source: Fractal and Fractional

DOI: 10.3390/fractalfract8110664

Authors: Andrea Katharina Korenjak, Stefan Offenbacher, Stefan Marschnig

Institution: Graz University of Technology

Language: English

Topic: Railway Engineering and Dynamics

Subfield: Mechanical Engineering

Field: Engineering

Domain: Physical Sciences

SDG: Industry, innovation and infrastructure

Open Access status: gold

Estimated APC paid: $3,069