Railway condition monitoring and analysis of settlements using InSAR

Research Project, 2023 – 2026

Purpose and goal
The project will investigate InSAR (Interferometric Synthetic-Aperture Radar) to complement existing methods of railway condition monitoring and preventive maintenance. The purpose of the study is to analyze historical InSAR data on railway tracks and the factors that can affect track condition: geotechnical, geological, climate-related and structural. The goal of the project is to understand and anticipate settlement related problems for railway infrastructure through these techniques.

Expected results and effects
The project will contribute with new techniques within InSAR to complement railway condition monitoring. The research will contribute to knowledge of accelerating factors to settlement, giving larger margins for maintenance planning. The results can be used in the construction phase, for example by choosing areas with good prerequisites. Using methods from the project, causes for repeated misalignment can be investigated, which can be used as decision support for large maintenance investments.