A new MEMS sensor for rail safety monitoring

铁路运输网络是加拿大经济的关键要素。这些线性基础设施**走廊必须安全地运输自然资源、原材料、制成品和乘客，通过**由于土壤条件差、滑坡危险和**地下建设等城市危险而长期移动的轨道**区域。为此，轨道的几何形状(如横档、轨距和翘曲)必须**保持在允许的范围内，以便保持最大允许轨道速度并**将脱轨风险降至最低。在活动场地区域，需要定期监测轨道几何形状**以安排轨道维护，以纠正轨道几何形状并确保安全。然而，在非常**重要的区域(例如，在轨道下的土壤中挖掘隧道)，每周甚至每天的轨道检查可能**不足以捕捉到加速轨道运动的开始。因此，一种新的传感器技术可以近乎实时(例如每10分钟)监测这些**关键区域的轨道几何形状，因此有一个全球市场**。这笔Engage赠款的目的是与世界领先的岩土MEMS地面变形传感器(MEASURAND Inc.)合作，合作开发皇后大学开发的创新轨道监测能力**(例如隔振高速成像和分布式光纤传感)**。对MEASURAND的新型MEMS钢轨监测传感器进行现场**试验，以a)评估轨道**几何形状变化在真实世界条件下的检测极限，以及b)提高我们对**轨道恶化机理的基本科学理解；尤其是检验轨道恶化速率可**用于形成针对未来不安全轨道几何形状的早期预警系统的假设。

Railway transportation networks are a critical element of Canada's economy. These linear infrastructure**corridors must safely transport natural resources, raw materials, manufactured goods, and passengers over areas**of long-term track movements due to poor soil conditions, landslide hazards, and urban hazards such as**underground construction. To do this, the geometry of the track (e.g. cross-level, gauge, and warp) must be**maintained within allowable limits in order for maximum permissible track speeds to be maintained and**derailment risk to be minimized. In areas of moving ground, regular monitoring of track geometry is required**to schedule track maintenance to correct track geometry and ensure safety. However, in areas of critical**importance (e.g. a tunnel being bored in the soil under the track), weekly or even daily track inspections may**not be sufficient to capture the onset of accelerating track movements. There is therefore a world-wide market**for a new sensor technology that can monitor track geometry in near real-time (e.g. every 10 minutes) in these**critical areas. The objective of this Engage grant is to partner the innovative rail monitoring capabilities**developed at Queen's University (e.g. vibration-isolated high-speed imaging and distributed fibre optic sensing)**with the world-leader in geotechnical MEMS ground deformation sensors (Measurand Inc.) to perform a field**trial of Measurand's new prototype MEMS rail monitoring sensor to a) assess detection limits of track**geometry changes under real-world conditions, and b) to improve our fundamental scientific understanding of**the mechanism of track deterioration; in particular, to test the hypothesis that the rate of track deterioration can**be used to form the basis of an early warning system to protect against future unsafe track geometry.