Datei im Netzwerk der BAM verfügbar ("Closed Access")
Filtern
Dokumenttyp
- Zeitschriftenartikel (1)
- Beitrag zu einem Tagungsband (1)
- Vortrag (1)
Schlagworte
- Railway axle (3) (entfernen)
Eingeladener Vortrag
- nein (1)
The field of human factors has been concerned with prevention of organisational accidents and the maintaining of the highest safety standards in organisations with high hazard potential since its beginnings. Whereas it is known that human error has contributed to some well-known accidents and events in various safety-critical applications, as well as in railway, and that human factors have an impact on how reliable our non-destructive inspections are, very little has been done so far to address human factors, especially in the railway sector.
The first steps in addressing human factors in the inspection of railway axles has been carried out by analysing the results of manual ultrasonic inspection of the railway axles during requalification in the education centre of the German Society for Non-Destructive Testing (DGZfP). In addition to the inspection, 160 participants were asked to fill out a questionnaire with the aim of identifying potential factors influencing their performance. The results showed that no correlation between the possible influencing factors (i.e. experience, level of qualification, satisfaction with the conditions during the re-qualification as well as in the daily practice and mental workload) and the inspection results. The explanation for this result was found in the fact that questionnaires can be used only to identify indirectly influencing factors. The only way to identify directly influencing factors and establish cause-effect relationships is by experimental study. The limitation of this study was the inability to influence the participants in any way during the requalification examination. Another angle used to identify potential influencing factors was the use of human-oriented Failure Modes and Effects Analysis. Carried out together with 4 experts from the field practice, two lecturers and two scientists, this analysis provided with an extensive list of possible failures, their causes, consequences and possible barriers. The largest benefits for the reliability of manual ultrasonic railway axle inspections in the practice can be found in attending to the organisational aspects of the inspection (e.g. processes, procedures, communication, education, supervision etc.).
The paper gives an overview on safe life and damage tolerance methods applied to railway axles. It describes failure scenarios due to fatigue crack initiation and propagation. Besides common aspects of design, specific features such as corrosion and impact damage from flying ballast are discussed which may reduce the fatigue strength of axles during service. Potential effects of non-metallic inclusions from the steel manufacturing process are addressed in the context of the very high number of loading cycles railway axles are designed for. With respect to damage tolerance general lines of fracture mechanics residual lifetime analyses are introduced. More specific discussion is provided on aspects such as the threshold value of fatigue crack propagation and reliability aspects of non-destructive inspection.
Am 9. Juli 2008 entgleiste ein Hochgeschwindigkeits-Triebzug der Baureihe 403, ICE3, bei der Ausfahrt aus dem Kölner Hauptbahnhof. Ursache dafür war der Schwingbruch einer Radsatzwelle. Im Auftrag der Staatsanwaltschaft Köln untersuchte die BAM die Schadensteile, insbesondere die gebrochene Treibradsatz-Hohlwelle.
Zunächst wurden das Drehgestell, der Antriebsstrang, die Räder, die Bremsen und die gebrochene Radsatzwelle visuell untersucht und deren Zustand dokumentiert.
Anschließend erfolgte die zerstörungsfreie Prüfung der beiden Bruchstücke der Hohlwelle mit teilmechanisierter Ultraschall-Handprüfung.
Vor der Zerlegung der Radsatzwelle wurden ausgewählte Maße kontrolliert und die Oberfläche eingehend untersucht. Nach der Probenahme und Präparation wurden die relevanten spezifizierten Eigenschaften des Wellenwerkstoffs überprüft.
Mittels Bruchflächenanalyse konnte die Startstelle des Schwingrisses lokalisiert, aufgrund der starken Sekundärschäden auf der Bruchfläche und an den Bruchkanten jedoch nicht direkt ausgewertet werden. Durch die Kombination von Mikro-Computertomographie und Ultraschall-Tauchtechnik wurden u. a. nahe der Schwingriss-Startstelle Inhomogenitäten erkannt, die durch metallographische Zielpräparation als nichtmetallische Einschlüsse identifiziert wurden. Die Größe dieser Einschlüsse ist gemäß gefordertem Reinheitsgrad unzulässig. Vergleichbare Einschlüsse in diesem hochbeanspruchten Bereich der Radsatzwelle haben vermutlich den Schwingriss initiiert.