Railroad Track Performance Monitoring by Advanced Sensor Network & Big Data

The objective this research is to develop a program of hardware and software to: (1) quantify, in the field, the ballast condition and failure criteria; and (2) offer a platform for the future “real-time ballast stability evaluation and monitoring program.” Efforts will be spent on the following specific areas: (1) Development of advanced SmartRocks with (a) an onboard programmable ballast condition assessment criteria; and (b) power management program to significantly extend the monitoring period; (2) Field instrumentation of the advanced sensor networks at different locations under different traffic and maintenance conditions; and (3) A Big Data algorithm to analyze the SmartRock data and further improve the accuracy of ballast condition assessment criteria mentioned in area 1.

Language

• English

Project

• Status: Active
• Funding: $Federal $176,516 Match $180,378
• Contract Numbers:

  69A3551847103

• Sponsor Organizations:

  Office of the Assistant Secretary for Research and Technology

  University Transportation Centers Program
  Department of Transportation
  Washington, DC  United States  20590
• Managing Organizations:

  Center for Integrated Asset Management for Multimodal Transportation Infrastructure Systems (CIAMTIS)

  Pennsylvania State University
  University Park, PA  United States  16802
• Project Managers:

  Donnell, Eric

  Rajabipour, Farshad

• Performing Organizations:

  Pennsylvania State University, University Park

  Thomas D. Larson Pennsylvania Transportation Institute
  Research Office Building
  University Park, PA  United States  16802-4710

  University of Delaware, Newark

  Department of Civil Engineering
  301 DuPont Hall
  Newark, DE  United States  19716
• Start Date: 20190301
• Expected Completion Date: 20210930
• Actual Completion Date: 20220228
• USDOT Program: University Transportation Centers

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Algorithms; Ballast (Railroads); Condition surveys; Data collection; Failure; Instrumentation; Railroad tracks; Sensors; Software
• Subject Areas: Data and Information Technology; Railroads;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01698495
• Record Type: Research project
• Source Agency: Center for Integrated Asset Management for Multimodal Transportation Infrastructure Systems (CIAMTIS)
• Contract Numbers: 69A3551847103
• Files: UTC, RIP
• Created Date: Mar 4 2019 4:38PM