Adaptive ultrasonic rail wheel testing system with advanced phased array technology

Abstract

Non-destructive wheel inspection by means of ultrasound testing (UT) is crucial for highspeed, local or cargo trains. Any failure can lead to catastrophic events resulting in high material damage and personal injury or even fatalities. However, the inspection of train wheels is complicated due to different defect positions, which are to some part difficult to access, and a large variety of wheel geometries which are, moreover, influenced by the milage of the wheels. This article describes an industrial solution for the full-body inspection of train wheels including face, flange, web and tread. To cope with the high complexity of the inspection task, the Krautkrämer WheelStar implements advanced UT technologies in combination with a high automatization level and user-friendly controlling and inspection tools. In the first part of this article, general probe configurations and the benefits of Phased Array Ultrasonic Testing (PAUT), in particular the use of matrix probes, will be discussed. Afterwards, setup and evaluation software of the testing machine will be presented. The final part contains selected measurement results highlighting the testing capabilities. Comparative studies reveal the improvements of matrix probes. Moreover, it will be shown in which way these give access to new features such as a high precision coupling check or geometry measurements allowing a compensation of wheel wear or the identification of the wheel type (“smart probe”).