The general topic of this paper is the passive reconstruction of an acoustic transfer function from an unknown, generally nonstationary excitation. As recently shown in a study of building response to ground shaking, the paper demonstrates that, for a linear system subjected to an unknown excitation, the deconvolution operation between two receptions leads to the Green's function between the two reception points that is independent of the excitation. This is in contrast to the commonly used cross-correlation operation for passive reconstruction of the Green's function, where the result is always filtered by the source energy spectrum (unless it is opportunely normalized in a manner that makes it equivalent to a deconvolution). This concept is then applied to high-speed ultrasonic inspection of rails by passively reconstructing the rail's transfer function from the excitations naturally caused by the rolling wheels of a moving train. A first-generation prototype based on this idea was engineered using noncontact air-coupled sensors, mounted underneath a test railcar, and field tested at speeds up to 80 mph at the Transportation Technology Center (TTC), Pueblo, CO. This is the first demonstration of passive inspection of rails from train wheel excitations and, to the authors' knowledge, the first attempt ever made to ultrasonically inspect the rail at speeds above ∼30 mph (that is the maximum speed of common rail ultrasonic inspection vehicles). Once fully developed, this novel concept could enable regular trains to perform the inspections without any traffic disruption and with great redundancy.
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January 2006
Research-Article
Passive Extraction of Dynamic Transfer Function From Arbitrary Ambient Excitations: Application to High-Speed Rail Inspection From Wheel-Generated Waves
Francesco Lanza di Scalea,
Francesco Lanza di Scalea
Mem. ASME
NDE & SHM Laboratory,
Department of Structural Engineering,
University of California, San Diego,
La Jolla, CA 92093-0085
e-mail: flanzadiscalea@ucsd.edu
NDE & SHM Laboratory,
Department of Structural Engineering,
University of California, San Diego,
La Jolla, CA 92093-0085
e-mail: flanzadiscalea@ucsd.edu
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Xuan Zhu,
Xuan Zhu
NDE & SHM Laboratory,
Department of Structural Engineering,
University of California, San Diego,
La Jolla, CA 92093-0085
e-mail: xuz009@ucsd.edu
Department of Structural Engineering,
University of California, San Diego,
La Jolla, CA 92093-0085
e-mail: xuz009@ucsd.edu
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Margherita Capriotti,
Margherita Capriotti
NDE & SHM Laboratory,
Department of Structural Engineering,
University of California, San Diego,
La Jolla, CA 92093-0085
e-mail: mcapriot@ucsd.edu
Department of Structural Engineering,
University of California, San Diego,
La Jolla, CA 92093-0085
e-mail: mcapriot@ucsd.edu
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Albert Y. Liang,
Albert Y. Liang
NDE & SHM Laboratory,
Department of Structural Engineering,
University of California, San Diego,
La Jolla, CA 92093-0085
e-mail: ayl047@ucsd.edu
Department of Structural Engineering,
University of California, San Diego,
La Jolla, CA 92093-0085
e-mail: ayl047@ucsd.edu
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Stefano Mariani,
Stefano Mariani
NDE & SHM Laboratory,
Department of Structural Engineering,
University of California, San Diego,
La Jolla, CA 92093-0085
e-mail: s.mariani@imperial.ac.uk
Department of Structural Engineering,
University of California, San Diego,
La Jolla, CA 92093-0085
e-mail: s.mariani@imperial.ac.uk
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Simone Sternini
Simone Sternini
NDE & SHM Laboratory,
Department of Structural Engineering,
University of California, San Diego,
La Jolla, CA 92093-0085
e-mail: ssternin@eng.ucsd.edu
Department of Structural Engineering,
University of California, San Diego,
La Jolla, CA 92093-0085
e-mail: ssternin@eng.ucsd.edu
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Francesco Lanza di Scalea
Mem. ASME
NDE & SHM Laboratory,
Department of Structural Engineering,
University of California, San Diego,
La Jolla, CA 92093-0085
e-mail: flanzadiscalea@ucsd.edu
NDE & SHM Laboratory,
Department of Structural Engineering,
University of California, San Diego,
La Jolla, CA 92093-0085
e-mail: flanzadiscalea@ucsd.edu
Xuan Zhu
NDE & SHM Laboratory,
Department of Structural Engineering,
University of California, San Diego,
La Jolla, CA 92093-0085
e-mail: xuz009@ucsd.edu
Department of Structural Engineering,
University of California, San Diego,
La Jolla, CA 92093-0085
e-mail: xuz009@ucsd.edu
Margherita Capriotti
NDE & SHM Laboratory,
Department of Structural Engineering,
University of California, San Diego,
La Jolla, CA 92093-0085
e-mail: mcapriot@ucsd.edu
Department of Structural Engineering,
University of California, San Diego,
La Jolla, CA 92093-0085
e-mail: mcapriot@ucsd.edu
Albert Y. Liang
NDE & SHM Laboratory,
Department of Structural Engineering,
University of California, San Diego,
La Jolla, CA 92093-0085
e-mail: ayl047@ucsd.edu
Department of Structural Engineering,
University of California, San Diego,
La Jolla, CA 92093-0085
e-mail: ayl047@ucsd.edu
Stefano Mariani
NDE & SHM Laboratory,
Department of Structural Engineering,
University of California, San Diego,
La Jolla, CA 92093-0085
e-mail: s.mariani@imperial.ac.uk
Department of Structural Engineering,
University of California, San Diego,
La Jolla, CA 92093-0085
e-mail: s.mariani@imperial.ac.uk
Simone Sternini
NDE & SHM Laboratory,
Department of Structural Engineering,
University of California, San Diego,
La Jolla, CA 92093-0085
e-mail: ssternin@eng.ucsd.edu
Department of Structural Engineering,
University of California, San Diego,
La Jolla, CA 92093-0085
e-mail: ssternin@eng.ucsd.edu
1Corresponding author.
2Present address: Department of Mechanical Engineering, Imperial College, Exhibition Road, London SW7 2AZ, UK.
Manuscript received May 31, 2017; final manuscript received July 29, 2017; published online September 29, 2017. Assoc. Editor: Hoon Sohn.
J. Comput. Nonlinear Dynam. Jan 2006, 1(1): 011005-011005-12 (12 pages)
Published Online: September 29, 2017
Article history
Received:
May 31, 2017
Revised:
July 29, 2017
Citation
Lanza di Scalea, F., Zhu, X., Capriotti, M., Liang, A. Y., Mariani, S., and Sternini, S. (September 29, 2017). "Passive Extraction of Dynamic Transfer Function From Arbitrary Ambient Excitations: Application to High-Speed Rail Inspection From Wheel-Generated Waves." ASME. J. Comput. Nonlinear Dynam. January 2006; 1(1): 011005–011005–12. https://doi.org/10.1115/1.4037517
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