FLAT WHEEL DETECTION AS A PART OF WAYSIDE TRAIN MONITORING SYSTEMS

Flat spots and other imperfections in wheel roundness stress the railway superstructure and can cause expensive damages. Moreover, in critical situations, where several disadvantageous conditions of railway vehicles and/or infrastructure arise at the same time, fl at spots may result in heavy accidents. Thus the early recognition of fl at spots is an important task. In the past sensor systems have been developed, which use different algorithms to estimate size and shape of the fl at spots as well as they use different types of specifi cation. But most of them seem not be suitable to evaluate the consequences caused by the fl at spots’ impacts. Thus, the authors of this article suggest usage of an effect-equivalent fl at spot for all imperfections of wheel geometry.