RCF Quantification : towards rail grinding best practices for Australian heavy haul rail

Rail grinding is currently being performed by considering the variations in rail profile measured through Grinding Quality Index (GQI) and has traditionally ignored rail surface condition. Often this profile based grinding leads to excess grinding and reduction of rail life. Consequently, a best practice approach for rail grinding comprising an updated index called Equivalent Quality Index (EQI) and economic decision model was proposed in this paper. The EQI incorporates the rail surface condition associated with rolling contact fatigue (RCF). However, there is a lack of knowledge and comprehensive technology in the market / industry to measure and quantify the RCF cracks and thus the surface condition. Consequently, a review and analysis was conducted on three non-destructive testing methods and concluded that the eddy current technology has potential to detect and quantify the cracks. In addition a data acquisition system and post processing software was developed to overcome the practical limitations of the eddy current device, such as sensitiveness and unwanted noise signals. The initial result from this proposed approach is discussed in this paper.