Wheel flat detection algorithm for onboard diagnostic

The paper describes an algorithm to detect wheel flat defects by measuring the vertical acceleration on the axle-box. The algorithm operates in the time domain and it is suitable to define an index to discover the presence of wheel flats at the early stage and to estimate the severity of the problem. In order to verify the algorithm both numerical simulations and experimental tests have been performed on a freight vehicle. The results show that the wheel flat index proposed in this work is able to detect small flats and to estimate its severity. The algorithm has been integrated on a monitoring system for onboard application and it has been developed in order to be able to run on a light hardware architecture.