Reliability Verification of a FBG Sensors Based Train Wheel Condition Monitoring System

Railway condition monitoring is one of crucial factors to ensure safe and cost-effectiveness of train operation. A fiber Bragg grating sensors based real-time train wheel condition monitoring system has been developed and reported by our team. In the system, the condition index (CI) is generated to indicate wheel condition. To further verify the system is reliable. This paper reports, as case studies, the two-parameter Weibull distribution model is used to analyze the CI of nine train cars, and proves that the CI can well indicate the wheel condition. Moreover a discussion of cost and reliability for wheel maintenance, also reported in the paper, can help railway operators to achieve the best balance between the cost and the reliability.