An application of geotechnical instrumentation permanently embedded in railway track
An application of geotechnical instrumentation permanently embedded in railway track
Researchers and engineers rely on information and data to study, operate, maintain, and improve transportation infrastructure. Measurement provides quantitative information and evidence for these purposes. Sensors for measurement can be embedded into the track system at a fixed location or vehicle mounted. This paper describes the design, deployment, and operation of a permanent measurement system that uses sensors embedded in the trackbed on an operational railway in the United Kingdom to monitor track deflection, stiffness, and pressures at key trackbed interfaces. The measurement systems comprise a longitudinal array of accelerometers fixed to sleeper ends; dynamically sampled total pressure cells placed at the ballast-subgrade interface; and total pressure cells, piezometers, and accelerometers buried in the subgrade. Permanent, fixed sensors provide large volumes of detailed but highly localized information, while multichannel sensor arrays produce data that describes performance along the track. Methods for data reduction are proposed for the acceleration measurement system that allows spatial and seasonal variation to be visualized along the instrumented site for different train types. This approach enables comparison with track geometry data from rolling (on-train) measurements. Locally, buried instrumentation provides evidence for variation in load transfer to the subgrade both along the line and across individual sleepers; illustrates how interaction between wheelsets varies with depth and by vehicle type; and how the pore water responds to train loading. The application of measurement for monitoring purposes permits an analytical approach to data interpretation where monitoring parameters are similar to those used for design and simulation.
19-27
Milne, David
6b321a45-c19a-4243-b562-517a69e5affc
Watson, Geoff
a7b86a0a-9a2c-44d2-99ed-a6c02b2a356d
Powrie, William
600c3f02-00f8-4486-ae4b-b4fc8ec77c3c
Lee, Ben
791c9c18-0abb-493a-8837-22d558d51b10
Rujikiatkamjorn, Cholachat
22 October 2024
Milne, David
6b321a45-c19a-4243-b562-517a69e5affc
Watson, Geoff
a7b86a0a-9a2c-44d2-99ed-a6c02b2a356d
Powrie, William
600c3f02-00f8-4486-ae4b-b4fc8ec77c3c
Lee, Ben
791c9c18-0abb-493a-8837-22d558d51b10
Rujikiatkamjorn, Cholachat
Milne, David, Watson, Geoff, Powrie, William and Lee, Ben
(2024)
An application of geotechnical instrumentation permanently embedded in railway track.
Rujikiatkamjorn, Cholachat, Xue, Jianfeng and Indraratna, Buddhima
(eds.)
In Proceedings of the 5th International Conference on Transportation Geotechnics (ICTG) 2024.
vol. 1,
Springer Singapore.
.
(doi:10.1007/978-981-97-8213-0_4).
Record type:
Conference or Workshop Item
(Paper)
Abstract
Researchers and engineers rely on information and data to study, operate, maintain, and improve transportation infrastructure. Measurement provides quantitative information and evidence for these purposes. Sensors for measurement can be embedded into the track system at a fixed location or vehicle mounted. This paper describes the design, deployment, and operation of a permanent measurement system that uses sensors embedded in the trackbed on an operational railway in the United Kingdom to monitor track deflection, stiffness, and pressures at key trackbed interfaces. The measurement systems comprise a longitudinal array of accelerometers fixed to sleeper ends; dynamically sampled total pressure cells placed at the ballast-subgrade interface; and total pressure cells, piezometers, and accelerometers buried in the subgrade. Permanent, fixed sensors provide large volumes of detailed but highly localized information, while multichannel sensor arrays produce data that describes performance along the track. Methods for data reduction are proposed for the acceleration measurement system that allows spatial and seasonal variation to be visualized along the instrumented site for different train types. This approach enables comparison with track geometry data from rolling (on-train) measurements. Locally, buried instrumentation provides evidence for variation in load transfer to the subgrade both along the line and across individual sleepers; illustrates how interaction between wheelsets varies with depth and by vehicle type; and how the pore water responds to train loading. The application of measurement for monitoring purposes permits an analytical approach to data interpretation where monitoring parameters are similar to those used for design and simulation.
Text
Geotech_instrumentation
- Accepted Manuscript
Restricted to Repository staff only until 22 October 2025.
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Published date: 22 October 2024
Identifiers
Local EPrints ID: 500732
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/500732
ISSN: 2366-2557
PURE UUID: d4cf50fa-f75f-4de8-acbb-674e83dc8bb1
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Date deposited: 12 May 2025 16:40
Last modified: 22 Aug 2025 02:21
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Contributors
Author:
Ben Lee
Editor:
Cholachat Rujikiatkamjorn
Editor:
Jianfeng Xue
Editor:
Buddhima Indraratna
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