A comparative investigation of the effects of concrete sleepers on the GPR signal for the assessment of railway ballast

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Bianchini Ciampoli, Luca, Artagan, Salih Serkan, Tosti, Fabio ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0291-9937, Alani, Amir and Benedetto, Andrea (2018) A comparative investigation of the effects of concrete sleepers on the GPR signal for the assessment of railway ballast. In: 17th International Conference on Ground Penetrating Radar, 18-21 Jun 2018, Rapperswil, Switzerland. (In Press)

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Abstract

This paper reports an investigation into the influence of concrete railway sleepers on the ground-penetrating radar (GPR) signal for the assessment of railway ballast. The main aim was to comprehend the effects of these components on the GPR signal compared to the signal response collected on ballast (clean and fouled conditions) without sleepers. To this purpose, a methacrylate container with dimensions of 1.5 m × 1.5 m × 0.50 m was filled up with limestone railway ballast aggregates. Hence, two concrete sleepers of standard dimensions were laid above the material. GPR tests were carried out using 4 different air-coupled antenna systems with frequencies of 1000 MHz, 1500 MHz and 2000 MHz (in both the standard and low-powered version). Each antenna system was oriented in two different ways, i.e. longitudinally and transversely with respect to the orientation of the tracks. Data interpretation was made by way of comparison between the time-domain and the spectral signal responses of the configuration with “ballast material only” and the configuration with “ballast material and sleepers” (longitudinal/transversal orientation of the antenna systems, one/two concrete sleepers and clean/fouled ballast). Results have proven distinctive features of the GPR signal in terms of antenna frequency and orientation, paving the way to enhanced data interpretation in both clean and fouled ballast conditions.

Item Type:	Conference or Workshop Item (Paper)
Keywords:	ground-penetrating radar (GPR), railway concrete sleepers, railway ballast, ballast fouling, signal processing
Subjects:	Construction and engineering > Civil and environmental engineering Construction and engineering > Digital signal processing Construction and engineering > Electrical and electronic engineering Construction and engineering > Civil and structural engineering
Depositing User:	Fabio Tosti
Date Deposited:	04 Apr 2018 06:44
Last Modified:	04 Nov 2024 12:50
URI:	https://repository.uwl.ac.uk/id/eprint/4789

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References

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A comparative investigation of the effects of concrete sleepers on the GPR signal for the assessment of railway ballast

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