Advanced tool for railway structures monitoring
New technology for dynamic analysis in railway viaducts.
- Electrohydraulic shaker for inducing controlled loads in the structure (in magnitude, amplitude and frequency).
- It induces relevant levels of acceleration and displacement.
- Resulting vibrations resemble those produced by a train under real operating conditions.
- Real-time monitored process thanks to a set of sensors, both on board and on the viaduct.
- Results are not only the basis for the bridge FEM-model optimization, but they also provide key feedback about the structure condition.
Services
HAMERTEC provides dynamic testing services on railroad viaducts during their life-cycle, including the construction, operation and maintenance phases.
Maintenance
Predictive maintenance of railway structures.
Safety and inspection reports.
Mapping of the structures' condition in a railway network.
Budget planning (efficient investment reports).
Operation
Speed increase on operating lines.
Adaptation to new traffic (passengers, cargo, new rolling stock).
Uses
Commissioning of new structures
Real dynamic test for new structures validation.
Complement to current developed dynamic tests, according to each country specific regulations (e.g. ITPF-05 in Spain).
Preventive maintenance
Set a benchmark situation to detect structural variations.
Analysis of the aging degradation of the structure.
Inspection of structures in service
When specific damage is detected.
Due to increased dynamic load.
R&D&I Activities
Research, development and innovation Projects related to the structural behavior of active railroad viaducts.
Target clients
Success stories
HAMERTEC was created following the success of the “Hammer” Innovation Project. Supported by the CDTI (the Spanish Centre for the Development of Industrial Technology, a Public Business Entity), the applied technology has been developed, tested and validated in two railway viaducts placed in the outskirts of León (Spain). Those tests, which took place in February 2018, were performed under the institutional supervision of ADIF (the Spanish Railway Administrator). Results have been fully satisfactory.
Technology
The system developed by HAMERTEC allows an integral management of the dynamic test. This includes the following steps: test planning and execution, presentation of results and emission of conclusions and recommendations to the client in relation to the condition of the structure.
The system implements proprietary software with a dual function: control loop and first modal identification. This is an enormous competitive advantage, as it allows the intrinsic characteristics of the structure to be known in real time and with very good quality: frequencies, vibration modes and structural damping.
Subsequently, and applying experimental modal analysis techniques, more precise values are obtained, allowing theoretical models to be adjusted.
Our team
HAMERTEC has connected both experts from the railway sector and experienced engineers from the world of structural vibration testing. This collaboration began with the “Hammer” innovation project, in early 2016.
HAMERTEC is made up of the railway companies TELICE and Inse Rail, the Caminos de Hierro Foundation, and ANCO, a leading US engineering company in innovative systems for strength and vibration testing of materials, equipment and structures.
TELICE
Overhead contact line, signalling and communications
Inse Rail
Railway engineering in installations and systems
Caminos de Hierro Foundation
R&D&I in railway engineering