Design and evaluation of a remote measurement system for the online monitoring of rail vibration signals

The dynamic strain and vibration acceleration are two key parameters in the monitoring of vibrations that can damage track and affect the safety of railway traffic. This paper presents a remote measurement system for the online monitoring of train-induced vibration responses in rail tracks. A precision data acquisition node is designed for the conditioning and monitoring of the vibration signals generated by trains traveling at full speed. The monitored data is remotely acquired using a wireless sensor network. Furthermore, the use of solar power significantly increases the long-term service life of the system. The system is validated using both laboratory tests and a field deployment over a period of several months on an in-service high-speed railway. The obtained results indicate that the remote measurement system can accurately collect dynamic strain and vibration acceleration signals in a rail; these signals can be processed and analyzed to allow timely maintenance actions.