INERTIAL PROFILOMETER AS A RAIL SURFACE MEASURING INSTRUMENT

A pair of profilometers, modified from the original design of the Electro-Motive Division of General Motors, has been built and installed on the Department of Transportation rail test car by ENSCO, Inc. The inertial profilometer system is capable of accurately measuring variations in rail surfaces of both short wavelength (a few feet) and long wavelength (a few hundred feet). In addition to its application in vehicle-dynamic simulation, the measured inertial profile can be used as a data base for extracting mid-chord (or other types of relative profile measurement) at any selected chord length. Field and laboratory tests have been conducted to evaluate the performance of the profilometers. The laboratory tests consisted of shake table tests to measure the amplitude and phase response within the frequency range of interest. These results correspond closely to the theoretical frequency response. Extensive field tests were performed on tangent, spiral, and curved track. Both manual stringline and DOT mid-chord system measurements were made on the same sections of track. The results show good agreement between the profilometer data and the accurate stringline measurements.

• Supplemental Notes:
  • Contributed by the Intersociety Committee on Transportation for presentation at the Intersociety Conference on Transportation, Denver, Colo., Sept. 23-27, 1973.
• Corporate Authors:

  American Society of Mechanical Engineers

  Two Park Avenue
  New York, NY  United States  10016-5990
• Authors:
  • Rudd, T J
  • Brandenburg, E L
• Publication Date: 1973-7

Media Info

• Features: Figures;
• Pagination: 9 p.

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Data collection; Profilometers; Railroad tracks
• Old TRIS Terms: Inertial profilometers
• Subject Areas: Data and Information Technology; Railroads;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00054339
• Record Type: Publication
• Source Agency: American Society of Mechanical Engineers
• Report/Paper Numbers: 73-ICT-102
• Files: TRIS
• Created Date: Jun 10 1976 12:00AM