Railroad Tunnel Inspections for Maintenance and Replacement Prioritization Using Untethered Ground Penetrating Radar and LIDAR Capable Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs)

The Adojam RS42 IDEA Project Team developed a safe, airborne railroad tunnel inspection technology called Safe Automated Tunnel Evaluation System (SATES), performed SATES field tests on example railroad tunnels, and met Stage 1 Project objectives. Conventional tunnel inspections are limited by rail bound, manned vehicle constraints at grade (qualitative and/or limited resolution). In contrast, SATES technology provides comprehensive, 3D, colorized tunnel liner measurements at high resolution to evaluate surface deterioration [via innovative Simultaneous Localization and Mapping Laser Imaging Detection and Ranging (SLAM LIDAR)] and subsurface moisture (via innovative Radar on a Chip technology), including difficult access tunnel ceiling evaluation. Novel SATES Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) deployment and innovative sensors produced the following results in Stage 1: World’s first surface + subsurface UAV measurements in a tunnel; Detected and located subsurface water behind concrete tunnel liners; Detected concrete tunnel deterioration features (spalls, cracks, etc.); and Virtualized 3D tunnel geometry as a dense, colorized point cloud. The custom SATES UAV airframe and purpose-built sensor deployments were integrated specifically for railroad tunnel inspection applications. During Stage 1, the SATES UAV performed tunnel safety measurements untethered, contact-free, and reference-free, showcasing convenient scan capabilities at two field test sites. SATES sensing technologies accurately measured tunnel geometry within inspection tolerances, including difficult access features in tunnel ceilings (which are often dangerous and inconvenient to inspect via conventional means). SATES comprehensively documented tunnel deterioration features and provided information about excess water in concrete tunnel liners (linked to tunnel deterioration phenomena). The Project Team performed a week of successful SATES field test flights and data collection in coordination with Norfolk Southern Corp. at Blair Tunnel in January 2020 (following a November 2019 field test where generation 1 SATES airframe performance required improvement) in addition to field tests at the Silver Run Tunnel and more. Successful RS42 Project data collection during the January 2020 field test campaign was supported by an improved generation 2 (Gen2) SATES airframe and refinements to sensor systems. The Gen2 airframe and sensing systems are documented in the Stage 1 Project Performance Section of this report. SATES nondestructive test results from the concrete tunnel liner subsurface [Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR)] and the surface (SLAM LIDAR) show the benefits the SATES system provides. SATES data agreed with independent observations of tunnel deterioration. The Adojam RS42 IDEA Project Team also built on these results in Stage 2.

Language

  • English

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Filing Info

  • Accession Number: 01835386
  • Record Type: Publication
  • Report/Paper Numbers: Rail Safety IDEA Project 42
  • Files: TRIS, TRB, ATRI
  • Created Date: Feb 7 2022 12:18PM