Railway wheel flat and rail surface defect detection by time-frequency analysis

Damage to the surface of railway wheels and rails commonly occurs in most railways and, if not detected at an early stage, can result in rapid deterioration and possible failure incurring high maintenance costs. If detected at an early stage these maintenance costs can be minimised. This paper presents an investigation into the use of time-frequency analysis of vibrations in railway vehicles for early detection of wheel flats and rail surface defects. Time-frequency analysis is a useful tool for identifying the content of a signal in the frequency domain without losing information about its time domain characteristics. Three commonly used time-frequency analysis techniques: Short-Time-Fourier-Transform (STFT); Wigner-Ville Transform (WVT); and Wavelet Transform (WT) are investigated in this work.