
Broken rails and welds due to internal defects and/or anomalies are some of the leading causes of track-related accidents in North America. Ultrasonic nondestructive evaluation (NDE) techniques are the primary techniques commonly employed by railroads to monitor, detect, and characterize rail defects on a regular basis. This helps to ensure the safety, structural integrity, efficiency, and reliability of the railroads. This paper provides a brief overview of railroad rail flaw inspection using conventional ultrasonic NDE methods that are most commonly applied today.
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