Rail defect detection using ultrasonic surface waves

Current testing of the rail network is limited in terms of both speed of testing and PF accuracy of detecting surface defects such as gauge corner cracking. By using ultrasonic surface waves generated and detected in a pitch-catch manner we can detect such defects with a much higher accuracy. We use electro-magnetic acoustic transducers (EMATs) to generate and detect the ultrasound. These have the advantage of being non-contact and require no couplant. It is not sufficient to merely detect the presence of a defect; hence accurate calibration of the system is required. We present measurements on calibration samples giving the response of the system to defects of different depths. Further experiments have been performed on rail samples containing real and manufactured PF defects, both longitudinal and transverse. Using the change in signal amplitude and frequency content we are able to give a depth and position for these defects, and these are compared with more established measurement methods. An enhancement of the signal when the receive EMAT is close to the defect is also discussed.