A comparison of ultrasonically activated water stream and ultrasonic bath immersion cleaning of railhead leaf-film contaminant

Abstract

Leaf-film adhered to the railway track is a major issue during the autumn/fall season, as leaves fall onto the track and are entrained into the wheel-rail interface. This results in the development of a smooth, black layer. Presently, pressure washers must be used to clean the residue to prevent loss of traction, which can cause crashes or delays by forcing a reduced speed. These pressure washers consume large amounts of water and energy. In this study, use of an ultrasonic cleaning apparatus equipped with a 100 W transducer is investigated, using a low volume of water in the order of 1 L min-1. This was applied to leaf-film samples generated in the laboratory, whose surface properties and thickness were confirmed with optical and stylus profilometry methods. Cleaning achieved by an ultrasonically activated water stream was compared to a) non-activated water and b) an ultrasonic bath with comparable power consumption. Cleaning efficacy was found to be much greater than that afforded by the ultrasonic bath; a rate of 14.3 mm2 s-1 compared to 0.37 mm2 s-1, and the ultrasonic bath only cleaned off around 20% of the leaf-film coverage even after 3 minutes of exposure.

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ORCID for Timothy Leighton: orcid.org/0000-0002-1649-8750

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