EVALUATION OF A MOBILE DIAGNOSTIC LABORATORY BASED ON A ROAD-RAIL PLATFORM FOR ULTRASONIC RAIL INSPECTION

Abstract

The increasing intensity of railway transportation requires reliable and sufficiently frequent technologies for monitoring the technical condition of rails and timely detection of internal and surface defects. Conventional ultrasonic inspection based on removable flaw-detection trolleys is effective for rail non-destructive testing; however, its application may be associated with limitations in mobility, deployment time, inspection continuity, and access to geographically distributed track sections. The aim of this study is to develop and experimentally evaluate a mobile diagnostic laboratory (MDL) based on a road-rail platform for continuous ultrasonic inspection of railway rails under operational conditions. The scientific novelty consists in the experimental investigation of an integrated road-rail diagnostic platform equipped with wheeled ultrasonic transducers and in the comparative assessment of its flaw patterns against those obtained using conventional ultrasonic inspection equipment. Field tests were conducted under operational railway conditions to assess the continuity, stability, mobility, and diagnostic performance of the proposed system. The results demonstrated the operational feasibility of the MDL and showed its potential to improve the mobility, continuity, and organizational efficiency of ultrasonic rail inspection. The practical significance of the study lies in the possibility of deploying the MDL for flexible inspection of extensive railway networks while reducing dependence on conventional removable flaw-detection equipment and associated logistical arrangements.