A new MEMS sensor for rail safety monitoring

铁路运输网是加拿大经济的重要组成部分。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，这些地区由于土壤条件差、滑坡危险和地下建设等城市危险而长期轨道运行。要做到这一点，轨道的几何形状（例如横向、轨距和经线）必须保持在允许的范围内，以保持最大允许的轨道速度，并将脱轨风险降至最低。在移动地面区域，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，确保安全。然而，在至关重要的区域（例如在轨道下的土壤中开挖隧道），每周或甚至每天的轨道检查可能不足以捕捉到加速轨道移动的开始。因此，在这些关键区域，一种新的传感器技术可以近乎实时地（例如每10分钟）监测轨道几何形状，这是一个全球市场。这项Engage资助的目的是将女王大学开发的创新轨道监测能力（例如，振动隔离高速成像和分布式光纤传感）与世界领先的岩土MEMS地面变形传感器（Measurand Inc.）合作，对Measurand公司的新型原型MEMS轨道监测传感器进行现场试验，以a)评估真实条件下轨道几何变化的检测极限；b)提高我们对**轨道劣化机理的基本科学认识；特别是，为了测试假设，轨道劣化率可以**用来形成早期预警系统的基础，以防止未来不安全的轨道几何形状。

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.