Vibration testing of rail steel clamp devices

Abstract

The large amount of Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) ridership in Singapore has put much emphasis on the maintenance of the components, such as the trains itself, rails, and electronic and signaling systems, to ensure smooth operation. These components must not fail at any time during train service hours under the harsh conditions they are subjected to. Should they fail during service hours, they must include fail-safe solutions so that the component can be replaced after service hours.

The component in focus in this report are rail steel clamp devices, which consists of rail clamps and fishplates. Because of the large amount of stress and vibrations that are subjected onto the rails daily, it is important to determine how it affects the performance of installed rail clamps. Through experimentation, any areas of failure on either the fishplates or clamps itself can be identified and acted on, to improve its effectiveness and durability. The experiments are carried out with the help of an electrodynamic shaker, with the test parameters and conditions to be as similar to the actual train service conditions as possible.