Transverse and longitudinal crack detection in the head of rail tracks using Rayleigh wave-like wideband guided ultrasonic

waves
Stuart B Palmer, Steve Dixon, Rachel S Edwards and Xiaoming Jian University of Warwick, Dept of Physics, Coventry CV4 7AL, UK

ABSTRACT
We have developed a pitch-catch low frequency-wideband Rayleigh wave EMAT system with a centre frequency of approximately 200kHz, extending to around 500kHz and study here its applicability to crack detection in the head of rail tracks. On the head of a rail, the generated waves are strictly speaking a type of guided wave mode as the propagation surface is not a flat halfspace. They propagate along the surface of the rail penetrating down to a depth of several millimetres. We have used this approach to demonstrate detection of gauge corner and longitudinal cracking in the rail head. On samples containing machined slots we have shown that crack depth can be estimated by measuring the proportion of the ultrasonic wave at a particular frequency that passes underneath the crack. The approach that we have used is fundamentally different to and has several advantages over conventional ultrasonic contact methods and should ultimately facilitate testing the rail head more thoroughly at higher speeds. Keywords:

1. INTRODUCTION
Ultrasonic inspection of rails is usually restricted to low speeds of around 20-30mph 1, which limits the viability of testing many tracks regularly. Furthermore many of the most serious defects that can develop in the rail head can be very difficult to detect using the currently available inspection equipment. One of the reasons for slow inspection speeds using conventional NDT is the need for couplant between the transducer and the track using either liquid or dry couplant materials. EMATs have been used 2,3 or suggested 4 to measure both rail tracks and wheels by other workers and the use of non-contact ultrasonic measurements are still being investigated by a number of international research groups 5-8. In this paper we discuss the use of EMATs on rail for longitudinal and transverse crack defect detection and depth gauging. Ultrasonic surface waves that are similar in behaviour to Rayleigh waves are an obvious candidate for surface breaking crack detection, or indeed for defects that lie just under the surface within the Rayleigh wave penetration depth 9-12 . There are different approaches that may be used to detect a crack using a pitch-catch method. Strictly speaking, a Rayleigh wave only exists on a flat surface and as the surface of the rail head is curved the surface waves that propagate along or around the rail surface are a type of guided wave mode. Nevertheless these are still Rayleigh-like and for the purposes of this paper we will refer to them as Rayleigh waves. If a defect lies between the Rayleigh wave generator and detector then it will to some degree block the Rayleigh wave. The amplitude of a Rayleigh wave displacement decays with depth into the sample and most of the energy associated with a particular frequency lies within a depth equal to one wavelength at that frequency. Almost all of the energy lies within a depth corresponding to two wavelengths 9. The different frequency components will effectively probe to different depths below the sample surface. In a measurement where we attempt to propagate a Rayleigh wave through a region containing a surface breaking crack, the crack depth can be estimated by the amount of Rayleigh wave energy or amplitude that is transmitted through or underneath that region. Closed or partially closed cracks can obviously complicate the analysis and increase the amount of Rayleigh wave energy transmitted through the crack compared to an open crack.

70

Nondestructive Evaluation and Health Monitoring of Aerospace Materials, Composites, and Civil Infrastructure IV, edited by Shull, Gyekenyesi, Mufti, Proc. of SPIE Vol. 5767 (SPIE, Bellingham, WA, 2005) 0277-786X/05/$15 doi: 10.1117/12.598142

2. METHOD
The EMATs used in this paper have been designed and built in the Department of Physics at the University of Warwick . In our initial tests we have used a pitch-catch type geometry where one EMAT generates a Rayleigh wave that propagates down the length of the sample as shown in figure 1 or around the rail head as shown in figure 2, to be detected by a second EMAT. The EMATs are held fixed relative to each other providing a constant path difference between them on a flat surface. A key advantage when using EMATs is that as they are coupled to the sample via electromagnetic radio frequency waves they are relatively insensitive to misalignment and the surface profile when compared to contact transducers. The resultant detected Rayleigh wave signals are wide-band-low-frequency, with a dominant frequency (or centre frequency) of between 150-200KHz with significant frequency content up to 400KHz. The bandwidth and dominant frequency vary slightly depending on sample type and the specific design of EMAT used. The EMAT detector coil was a linear coil, approximately 2mm wide consisting of 25 turns of single layer copper wire. Different generation EMAT coils were used, but most of the measurements have been taken using a meander type EMAT coil of approximate width 23mm, with each finger of the meander coil being 8 turns wide of 0.315mm diameter copper wire.
13

2.1 Tests on calibration samples 2.1.1 Slot depth calibration measurement The first step is to demonstrate the measurement technique on simulated cracks or slots in metal samples, where we know the depth and width of the crack. In samples taken out of service containing real examples of gauge corner cracking (figure 3), it is difficult to measure crack depth, even in a destructive analysis. The first step in demonstrating the principle was to propagate EMAT generated and detected Rayleigh waves along the length of an aluminium bar containing slots machined to different depths with the aim of simulating a range of crack depths. The EMATs were separated by approximately 15cm and the slot was positioned midway between the EMAT pair. We have an accurate measure of crack depth, although the crack is unrealistic as it is not rough, nor is it partially closed and it does not contain material from contamination or corrosion products. A realistic crack in an aluminium billet, shown in the photograph of figure 4, was also measured using the EMAT Rayleigh wave system. Using the empirical data obtained in the slot depth measurement, a real crack in a section of aluminium billet as shown in figure 4 was measured using the EMAT system. Measurements of depth were also taken using an ACPD depth gauge over the length of the crack. 2.1.2 EMAT stand-off measurements In realistic conditions there is a possibility that the stand-off of the EMAT from the rail may vary slightly and thus possible effects of changing the stand-off of the detector or generator needed to be considered. The amplitude and frequency content of the Rayleigh wave propagating along the length of a defect free rail was measured as a function of the stand-off of both the generator and detector EMATs. It is however envisaged that as strong permanent magnets are used in each EMAT, which are held in a carriage type arrangement of the rail, the only change in stand-off is likely to be due to variation in the curvature of the rail head cross section. 2.2 Rail experiments 2.2.1 Propagating surface waves along the rail head surface transverse crack detection Rayleigh waves were propagated down the length axis of a rail as shown schematically in figure 1, where the rail contained a 4.5mm deep cut slot. Depth was estimated by comparison with the empirical data obtained on the aluminium calibration sample. Rayleigh waves were then propagated down the length axis of a rail containing real gauge corner transverse cracks of unknown depth. 2.2.2 Propagating surface waves around the rail head surface longitudinal crack detection Rayleigh waves were propagated around the rail head as shown schematically in figure 2. The EMATs were moved along the length of the rail over regions that contained small surface pitting defects through to a section of the rail that contained a region of spalling, where an area of part of the surface (approximately 2cm x 1cm area and 2mm deep) had become detached from the rail and then onwards over a large 20cm long longitudinal crack.

Proc. of SPIE Vol. 5767

71

3. RESULTS
3.1.1 Slot depth calibration measurement The detected Rayleigh wave signals are shown in figure 5, after having passed through regions each containing a 1mm wide slot of various depths. The peak-to-peak amplitude is plotted in figure 6 as a function of slot depth. The cut-off frequency is estimated by comparison of the magnitude FFT of a defect free region with the region containing the slot. Cut-off frequency is plotted as a function of slot depth in the inset of figure 6. Both amplitude and frequency cut-off vary measurably for the slots in the depth range of 2.5 mm to 15 mm. Using the calibration data from the sample containing the slots, the depth of the crack in the aluminium billet sample was calculated and compared to the ACPD results as shown in figure 7. 3.1.2 EMAT stand-off measurements The waveforms obtained at various rail stand-offs up to 2.24 mm are shown in figure 8, where it can clearly be seen that the amplitude decreases with increasing stand-off. The magnitude FFTs of these Rayleigh wave signals are shown in figure 9, where the peak value of each FFT has been normalised to unity. Note that there is a slight change in the frequency content between the minimum and maximum stand-off, but that this is insignificant compared to the frequency change on passing through a region containing a slot or crack. 3.2 Rail experiments 3.2.1 Transverse crack detection Figures 10 and 11 show respectively the Rayleigh wave signals and magnitude FFTs obtained on a defect free region of the rail sample and over the region containing the 4.5 mm (+/- 0.3 mm) deep cut slot. The experimental geometry is shown schematically in figure 1. Using the empirical data obtained from calibration measurements the slot depth was estimated to be 4.35 mm (+/- 0.2 mm) deep and 4.5 mm (+/- 0.5 mm) deep from the amplitude and FFT measurements respectively. The frequency content of the Rayleigh wave signals obtained using the EMAT pitch-catch system on various locations of a rail containing gauge corner cracking is shown in figure 12. 3.2.2 Longitudinal crack detection Figures 13 and 14 show respectively the signal amplitudes and magnitude FFTs obtained over a relatively defect free region of the rail, a region of spalling and a region containing a longitudinal crack. The temporal profile of the Rayleigh wave is very complicated and may in fact contain some small but significant bulk wave signals from direct generation by the EMAT or from mode conversion of the Rayleigh wave. Nevertheless a clear drop in amplitude is evident in both figures 13 and 14 over the region of spalling and more so over the region of the longitudinal crack.

4. CONCLUSION
We have shown that it is feasible to perform inspection of the railhead containing transverse and longitudinal cracking using wideband low frequency EMATs. Measurements of the amplitude or the relative frequency content of a Rayleigh wave that has propagated through a region containing a crack can be used to estimate crack depth. This may be particularly important as rails may contain less serious shallow cracks that dip into the surface but then propagate parallel to the plane of the surface. These cracks can develop into more serious defects if the crack tip dips down further into the bulk of the rail, and so it is important that we identify an approach that can distinguish between different types and severity of crack. Finally the approach taken here is fundamentally different to that employed by conventional wheel probe inspection. Where a wheel probe is used to detect and measure the depth of a crack, the probe must remain in approximately the same location during the transit of the ultrasonic wave. If the wheel probe moves significantly during the inspection then the signal reflected from the defect in the rail will not be detected. This limits conventional inspection speeds down to around 30pmh. The new approaches that we propose overcome the fundamental physics limitations currently experienced with the existing ultrasonic methods. Pitch-catch transducers do not need to effectively remain at the same point on the rail during the transit of the ultrasonic bulk or surface wave, and the use of wideband EMATs makes the measurement at speed more viable. The EMAT system also has the potential to asses the condition of the combined microstructure and stress state around the rail head by measuring accurately the velocity of the surface waves12.

72

Proc. of SPIE Vol. 5767

5. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
We would like to acknowledge EPSRC for funding this work, and Mr. John Reed for his technical assistance.

6. REFERENCES
1. Small J, Brook C, Ultrasonic instrumentation and transducers for rail inspection, Insight 44, pp373-374, 2002 2. Hirao, M; Ogi, H.; Fukuoka, H, Advanced Ultrasonic Method for Measuring Rail Axial Stresses with Electromagnetic Acoustic Transducer, Res. Nondest. Eval., 5, pp211-223, 1994 3. Rose JL, Avioli MJ, Mudge P, et al., Guided wave inspection potential of defects in rail NDT&E Int., 37, pp153-161, 2004 4. Armitage PR, The use of low-frequency Rayleigh waves to detect gauge corner cracking in railway lines, Insight, 44, pp369-372, 2002 5. Junger M, Thomas HM, Krull R, Eddy current test for operation-induced damaging on rails, Stahl Eisen, 119, pp107-110, 1999 6. di Scalea FL, McNamara J Ultrasonic NDE of railroad tracks: air-coupled cross-sectional inspection and long-range inspection, Insight, 45, pp394-401, 2003 7. Kenderian S, Cerniglia D, Djordjevic BB, et al., Rail track field testing using laser/air hybrid ultrasonic technique, Mater. Eval., 61, pp1129-1133, 2003 8. Pohl R et al , NDT techniques for railroad wheel and gauge corner inspection, NDT & E Int , 37 , pp 89-94 2004 9. Viktorov IA, Rayleigh and Lamb waves, Plenum Press New York (1967) 10. Cooper JA, Dewhurst RJ and Palmer SB, Characterization of surface-breaking defects in metals with the use of laser-generated ultrasound, Philos Trans Roy Soc A 320 (1554), pp319-328, 1986 11. Cooper, JA, Crosbie, RA, Dewhurst, RJ, et al., Surface acoustic-wave interactions with cracks and slots - a noncontacting study using lasers, IEEE Trans Ultrason Ferro 33, pp462-470, 1986 12. Dixon S, Edwards RS and Jian,X,, Inspection of rail track head surfaces using electromagnetic acoustic transducers (EMATs), Insight 46, pp326-330, 2004 13. Dixon S, C. Edwards C and Palmer SB, The optimization of Lamb and Rayleigh wave generation using widebandlow-frequency EMATs, Review of Progress in QNDE, 22, pp297-304, 2003

Proc. of SPIE Vol. 5767

73

Rayleigh wave propagation direction

detection EMAT

Rayleigh wave propagation direction

generation EMAT

generation EMAT
defect

detection EMAT

Figure 1 Schematic diagram showing how the EMATs were used in a pitch-catch type geometry for propagation of Rayleigh waves down the length of the rail head to measure and detect transverse cracks.

Figure 2 Schematic diagram showing how the EMATs were used in a pitch-catch type geometry for propagation of Rayleigh waves around the rail head to measure and detect longitudinal cracks.

crack

Figure 3 Photographs showing the profile of the rail head (left) and the rail head surface of a sample containing gauge corner cracking.

Figure 4 Photograph showing a real crack in a sample sectioned from an aluminium billet, with the insert on the bottom right showing the crack in more detail. Measurements were taken on the machined surface and also on the much rougher as cast surface of the billet with only a slight reduction in signal:noise due to the relatively long wavelengths present in the Rayleigh wave.
74 Proc. of SPIE Vol. 5767

60

no crack 2.5 mm

5 mm 15

no crack 2.5 mm 5.0 mm 15 mm

Signal (arb. units)

40 20 0 -20 -40 45 50

Time (s)

55

60

65

Figure 5 Waveform windowed around the arrival time of the Rayleigh wave for various slot depths on an aluminium bar sample. Note that there may also be some relatively small amplitude bulk wave signals present and that the lower amplitude waves correspond to increasing slot depth.

1.2 1.0
Cut-off frequency (MHz)
4 3 2 1 0

Peak to peak signal

0.8 0.6 0.4 0.2 0.0

10

15

20

Crack depth (mm)

10

15

20

Crack depth (mm)

Figure 6 Peak-to-peak amplitudes for various slot depths together with an inset of the crack depth estimated from the cut off frequencies of the magnitude FFTs of the Rayleigh waves shown in figure 5. Note that the cut-off frequencies shown over 400kHz are extrapolated from the magnitude FFT data.

Proc. of SPIE Vol. 5767

75

35 30

Depth of crack (mm)

ACPD measurements EMAT (signal amplitude)

25 20 15 10 5 0 0 10 20 30 40 50 60

Distance across sample face (mm)

Figure 7 Comparison between ACPD and ultrasonic Rayleigh wave amplitude measurements for a real crack in an aluminium billet. Note that there is some difference between the two readings at shallower depths.

76

Proc. of SPIE Vol. 5767

20

Signal (arb. units)

10 0 -10 -20 45 50 55 60 65x10

-6

stand-off from rail 0.1 mm 0.72 mm 1.45 mm 2.24 mm

Time (s)
Figure 8 Rayleigh wave signals obtained at the centre of the rail head using the EMAT pitch-catch system for various stand-offs.

1.0

0.8

Normalised FFT

0.6

0.4

0.2

0.0 0 100 200 300 400 500x10

Frequency (Hz)
Figure 9 Magnitude FFTs of the Rayleigh wave signals obtained at the centre of the rail head using the EMAT pitch-catch system for various stand-offs. The peak frequency amplitude value has been normalized to unity in each case to show that the change in frequency content with stand-off is measureable but small in comparison to changes observed on passing through a region containing a surface defect.

Proc. of SPIE Vol. 5767

77

Signal amplitude (arb. units)

10 5 0 -5 -10 -15 35 40 45 50 55x10

-6

defect free 4.5 mm slot

Time (s)
Figure 10 Waveform windowed around the arrival time of the Rayleigh wave taken on a rail sample over a defect free region (black line) and over a region containing a 4.5 mm deep slot (dotted line). Note again that there may also be some relatively small amplitude bulk wave signals present.

0.7 0.6

Magnitude FFT

0.5 0.4 0.3 0.2 0.1 0.0 100 200 300 400 500 600x10
3

defect free 4.5 mm slot

Frequency (Hz)
Figure 11 Magnitude FFTs of the waveforms shown in figure 7 on a rail sample over a defect free region (black line) and over a region containing a 4.5 mm deep slot (dotted line).

78

Proc. of SPIE Vol. 5767

2.5

Magnitude FFT

2.0

defect free region

1.5

1.0

defect region

0.5

0.0 0.0

0.2

0.4

0.6

0.8

1.0x10

Frequency (Hz)
Figure 12 Magnitude FFTs of a Rayleigh wave taken on a defect free section of rail and on a section containing gauge corner cracking. Note that the generation EMAT coil used in this experiment was a slightly different design to those used elsewhere in this paper which accounts for the difference in frequency content for the defect free region. It is the comparison between the defect and defect free region that is important.

Proc. of SPIE Vol. 5767

79

defect free over spalling region over longitudinal crack region

Figure 13 Waveform windowed around the arrival time of the Rayleigh wave taken on a rail sample around the rail head at various positions down the rail. The waveforms were taken at positions over a defect free region, a region containing spalling and a region containing a longitudinal crack.

Magnitude FFT (arb. units)

defect free over spalling region over longitudinal crack region

Frequency (Hz)
Figure 14 Magnitude FFTs of the waveforms shown in figure 13. The FFTs were over a defect free region onto a region containing spalling and finally over a region containing a longitudinal crack.

80

Proc. of SPIE Vol. 5767