The use of vibroacoustic signals to assess the condition of a railroad railway switch

Abstract

The work concerns the assessment of the technical condition of the turnout sleeper with the use of research methods based on the analysis of the vibration signal. The tests were carried out in a selected place of the railway infrastructure with a turnout sleeper with visible signs of wear. Three three-axis sensors made in the MEMS technology were used to record the vibration parameters. Registrations were carried out on the basis of the proprietary program developed in the LabView package. The original script developed in the Matlab calculation package was used to analyze the data recorded during the research. For the signal analysis, the short-term Fourier transform (STFT) was used and the value of the SNR coefficient for the adopted measurement points was determined. As a result, there is a visible differentiation of the SNR coefficient at the point of wear of the switchboard.