Nondestructive evaluation of railroad rails, wheels, and axles

A system for nondestructive evaluation of a wheel assembly on a railcar, the system comprising:

• a pair of rails, each having an excitation segment with a source of vibration connected to transmit vibrations of a preselected frequency to test regions on the wheel assembly to cause an increase in temperature of the wheel assembly at locations of flaws in the test regions;
• an infrared detector for recording thermal images of the test regions to detect the increase in temperature at the locations of flaws;
• and
• a controller connected to actuate the infrared detector to record the thermal images of the vibrations impacting the test regions, and store the thermal images recorded by the infrared detector.

A method for nondestructive evaluation of railroad rails, the method comprising:

• moving a carriage having a plurality of wheels on the rails;
• transmitting vibrations of a preselected frequency to test regions on the rails through the wheels by a source of vibration mounted on the carriage, the vibrations causing an increase in temperature of the rails at locations of flaws in the test regions;
• recording thermal images by an infrared detector of the test regions to detect the increase in temperature at the locations of flaws;
• and
• actuating the infrared detector by a controller to record the thermal images of the vibrations impacting the test regions, and storing the thermal images recorded by the infrared detector.

A method for nondestructive evaluation of a wheel assembly on a railcar, the method comprising:

• moving a carriage over excitation segments of a pair of rails;
• transmitting vibrations of a preselected frequency by a source of vibration to test regions on the wheel assembly to cause an increase in temperature of the wheel assembly at locations of flaws in the test regions;
• recording by an infrared detector thermal images of the test regions to detect the increase in temperature at the locations of flaws;
• and
• actuating by a controller the infrared detector to record the thermal images of the vibrations impacting the test regions, and storing the thermal images recorded by the infrared detector.