Description:
A rail operator identified widespread structural cracking in a critical location of their fleet. These wagons presented recurrent cracks on welds at critical location much sooner than expected.
EngAnalysis provided testing and analysis services to review the fatigue issues and guide a repair strategy. Within 5 minutes of the operational testing, the strain gauge results disproved the original hypothesis and identified an un expected load case due to wagon dynamics.
The strain data was analysed for load reconstruction using the unit load FEA results. The load reconstruction data was able to represent the test data within 5%.
The outcome of this investigation illustrated that the primary mode of failure was not caused by the expected load. This made it possible to design simple remedial changes that targeted the root cause of the failures at the welds on the existing wagons to maximise life.
The project provided large savings in the simplicity of the repair, and highlighted the value that measurement and data analysis combined with computational modelling can provide.