Dynamic Electromagnetic Thermography System for Rail Inspection

With the rapid development of railway networks, high-speed or intensive rolling of wheels will significantly increase the probability of fatigue damage and it has laid a hidden danger for major safety accidents. Thus, the timely development of rail rolling contact fatigue crack detection plays a vital role in ensuring the safety of railway transportation. Conventional researches are mainly focusing on static conditions whereas it is difficult to meet the strong demands of efficient railway network inspection. This study proposes a dynamic electromagnetic thermography system that has distinct advantages of high detection efficiency, high spatial resolution, and intelligence. Ulteriorly, several scanning simulation and on-site experiments on different rails are implemented to demonstrate the performance and effectiveness of the proposed system and it also provides an innovative way for near-surface cracks inspection on railways in the future.