Continuous Monitoring of the Wheel-Rail Contact Vertical Forces by Using a Variable Measurement Scale

This paper presents a new technology of continuous measurement and recording of forces in wheel/rail contact by measuring strains in two rail cross-sections, which allows increasing the measurement accuracy. The method for processing the measurement data is proposed with a variable scale between strains and force, depending on the instantaneous position of the wheel with respect to a span between sleepers. The gage characteristics obtained by rolling a wheel over the rail between two sleepers are approximated by using Fourier series abilities and used for the assessment of wheel/rail forces. By using the suggested technology, the amount of information obtained increased 2 times.