Estimating Railway Rolling Stock Speed from Free Field Ground Vibrations Measurement

Determination of train speeds on railway lines is an important task for both railway operators and researchers working in the area of noise and vibration assessment. The objective of this paper is to present a new technique capable of automatically calculating train speed from vibration sensors placed at distance from the track structure. The calculation method combines three separate speed calculation techniques to provide high precision speed estimates for arbitrary train speeds. The first estimation technique involves the use of cepstral analysis to isolate key harmonics for use with speed calculation. The second method is similar however the combination of a running root mean square and a previously developed “dominant frequency method” are used. The third method uses an analytical vibration frequency prediction model in combination with regression analysis to calculate train speed. All three methods are combined into one calculation procedure, resulting in high accuracy prediction capability. To show the robustness and ability of the new method to calculate a wide range of train speeds, it is used to predict intercity and high speed rail train passage velocities generated from a previously validated vibration prediction numerical model. More importantly, it is used to predict train speeds during field trials performed on operational railway lines in Belgium. The new method is shown to have offer high performance for several train types and track setups.

• Supplemental Notes:
  • This paper was sponsored by TRB committee AR050 Railroad Track Structure System Design.
• Corporate Authors:

  Transportation Research Board

  500 Fifth Street, NW
  Washington, DC  United States  20001
• Authors:
  • Kouroussis, Georges
  • Verlinden, Olivier
  • Connolly, David P
  • Forde, Mike C
• Conference:
  • Transportation Research Board 93rd Annual Meeting
  • Location: Washington DC
  • Date: 2014-1-12 to 2014-1-16
• Date: 2014

Language

• English

Media Info

• Media Type: Digital/other
• Features: Figures; Photos; References; Tables;
• Pagination: 15p
• Monograph Title: TRB 93rd Annual Meeting Compendium of Papers

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Field tests; High speed rail; Mathematical prediction; Railroad transportation; Sensors; Speed; Vibration
• Geographic Terms: Belgium
• Subject Areas: Planning and Forecasting; Railroads; I72: Traffic and Transport Planning;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01518966
• Record Type: Publication
• Report/Paper Numbers: 14-0814
• Files: TRIS, TRB, ATRI
• Created Date: Mar 21 2014 11:27AM