Road surface monitoring is an essential problem in providing smooth road infrastructure to commuters. This paper proposed an efficient road surface monitoring using an ultrasonic sensor and image processing technique. A novel cost-effective system, which includes ultrasonic sensors sensing with GPS for the detection of the road surface conditions, was designed and proposed. Dynamic time warping (DTW) technique was incorporated with ultrasonic sensors to improve the classification and accuracy of road surface detecting conditions. A new algorithm, HANUMAN, was proposed for automatic recognition and calculation of pothole and speed bumps. Manual inspection was performed and comparison was undertaken to validate the results. The proposed system showed better efficiency than the previous systems with a 95.50% detection rate for various road surface irregularities. The novel framework will not only identify the road irregularities, but also help in decreasing the number of accidents by alerting drivers.

Ground-penetrating radar (GPR) has been widely used to detect subsurface objects, such as hidden cavities, buried pipes, and manholes, owing to its noncontact sensing, rapid scanning, and deeply penetrating remote-sensing capabilities. Currently, GPR data interpretation depends heavily on the experience of well-trained experts because different types of underground objects often generate similar GPR reflection features. Moreover, reflection visualizations that were obtained from field GPR data for urban roads are often weak and noisy. This study proposes a novel instantaneous phase analysis technique to address these issues. The proposed technique aims to enhance the visibility of underground objects and provide objective criteria for GPR data interpretation so that the objects can be automatically classified without expert intervention. The feasibility of the proposed technique is validated both numerically and experimentally. The field test utilizes rarely available GPR data for urban roads in Seoul, South Korea and demonstrates that the technique allows for successful visualization and classification of three different types of underground objects.

This paper examines the influence of the equipment considered as a DVA (Dynamic Vibration Absorber) upon the mode of vertical vibrations of the car body in high-speed vehicles. The car body is represented as an Euler-Bernoulli beam to minimize flexible vibration. The DVA approach is used to find the appropriate suspension frequencies for various types of equipment. A vertical mathematical model with a flexible car body and equipment is developed to investigate the effect of equipment mass, suspension stiffness, damping, and mounting location on car-body flexible vibrations. A three-dimensional, rigid-flexible coupled vehicle system dynamics model is developed to simulate the car body and equipment’s response to track irregularities. The experimental result was considered to verify the theoretical analysis and dynamic simulation. The mathematical analysis demonstrates that the DVA theory can be used to design the suspension parameters of the equipment and that it is suitable and effective in reducing the flexible vibration of the car body in which the vertical bending mode is greatly affected. Heavy equipment should be mounted as close to the car body’s center as possible to achieve significant flexible vibration reduction, whereas light equipment contributes very little flexible vibration reduction.

In this paper, a multi-disciplinary analysis method is proposed for evaluating the fatigue life of railway vehicle car body structure under random dynamic loads. Firstly, the hybrid fatigue analysis method was used with Multi-Body System simulation and finite element method for evaluating the carbody structure dynamic stress histories. The dynamics stress is calculated from the longitudinal load using longitudinal train dynamics. Secondly, the nonlinear damage accumulation model was used in fatigue analysis, and carbody structure fatigue life and fatigue damage were predicted. The mathematical model simulations are compared with results produced experimentally, showing good agreement. Finally, the mode is determined after the finite element model is established. To achieve the dynamic stress at each node, the modal response is used as excitation. The carbody damage was obtained by combining dynamics stress with the NMCCMF damage accumulation model. As a result, the effect of longitudinal load on carbody fatigue damage is investigated. The longitudinal load contributes significantly to the fatigue damage of the carbody.

This paper analyses the dynamic behavior of a rail vehicle using experimental and simulation analysis on a multi-rigid–flex body model. The mathematical models are developed considering the car body, bogie frame, and wheel axle for rail vehicles of rigid–flexible and multi-rigid formulations, taking the car body as rigid for the rigid body analysis and the flexible car body for flex–rigid analysis. A finite element model of the car body was developed in ANSYS, and substructure and modal analyses were performed. The mathematical model is validated through an experiment conducted by the Research Design and Standards Organization. Then, the validated model is further analyzed to evaluate the running comfort, using the Sperling ride index and the running safety, by investigating the derailment coefficient and wheel load reduction rate. The impact of flexibility on the vehicle’s running stability is investigated using the rigid body dynamics model and experimental data. Compared to experimental data, the simulation results reveal that elastic vibration cannot be neglected in vehicle dynamics, since the rigid–flexible coupling model is slightly more significant than the rigid-body model for ride comfort and safety.