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Problem: the extensive
use of continuous welded rail (CWR) has improved overall rail system performance. While this
has solved many rail structural concerns, a major problem still prevails: how to proactively detect high compressive and
tensile forces in the rail to maintain safe operation. It is a well known fact that high compressive forces can cause
tracks to buckle, and high tensile forces can result in accelerated rail defect growth, rail breaks, weld pull-aparts,
and problems with curve alignment retention. Typically rail is installed at a high stress-free temperature referred to
as its neutral temperature (RNT). Over time, however, this RNT has been shown to decrease due to rail movement through
the fasteners longitudinally, to curves moving radially, and due to rail breaks and rail defect repair. This downward
shift in RNT can result in excessively high compressive forces at elevated temperatures, which can result in track buckling
and derailments, or in crippling slow-order actions. Thus the effective management of high longitudinal forces is a key
safety and productivity goal for the industry. However, this goal’s achievement has been prohibitively limited by an
inability to measure/determine rail longitudinal forces/RNT accurately and effectively. So how can rail operators effectively
manage longitudinal force when it can’t be measured?
Solution: after 25 years of research, Salient Systems has developed its current generation of the Rail Stress
Module (RSM)/StressNet™ system, the only breakthrough technology of its kind that serves as a comprehensive track safety
and maintenance tool and monitoring system.
The RSM/StressNet™ System: is a strategic network of proprietary Rail Stress Modules installed along the web of
rail that routinely and continuously measure and record the rail's longitudinal stress, neutral temperature and rail
temperature history. The data are then uploaded for reporting, analysis and action by the StressNet™ Data Management System.
Applications for RSM/StressNet™ system includes:
- Continuous measurement of longitudinal force and RNT
- Detection of rail breaks
- Alerting on potential buckling hazards
- Providing hot weather slow order requirements
- More effective rail break/defect repair RNT readjustment
management (including a “smart-plug” repair technology)
- Monitoring rail joint condition
The RSM’s installation is a simple 20 minute procedure facilitated by a Salient Systems provided custom installation kit
enabling a permanent epoxy bonding to the rail requiring no commercial power.
RSM/StressNet™ Data Acquisition: the power management of this current 5th generation RSM design allows for 10+ year
useful life, and the ability to collect the data with a variety of intermediate devices, including:
- Hand held reader carried by a track inspector
- At speed end of train (EOT) device
- At speed high rail inspection vehicle
- Dedicated wayside (fencepost) reader
RSM/StressNet™ System Industry Benefits: the system offers a cost effective and simple way to continuously monitor
and manage CWR thermal forces and RNT for enhanced CWR safety and performance. It is a proven technology with both US and
international field experience. It offers a “smart-system” approach to mitigating potentially damaging thermal forces by
providing real time data on CWR neutral temperature behavior. Nearly half of all track-caused derailments involve conditions
that the Salient Rail Stress Module (RSM)/StressNet™ technology may help to avoid.
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