Imperfect Condition-Based Maintenance Strategy for a Deteriorating Rail Track System with Multiple Competitive Failure Modes

This paper modeled rail track segments subject to multiple competitive failure modes and shock deterioration processes caused by passing trains. To determine the optimal inspection interval and intervention level of each failure mode, competitive failures were modeled by a series system, the shock arrivals were modeled by a Poisson process, and the deterioration caused by each shock was modeled by a gamma process. A maintenance improvement factor was considered as a function to model the decreasing effect of maintenance and aging on the system. The proposed model was applied to a real-world rail data set in which three geometry failure modes were the possible system deterioration mechanisms, and the condition-based maintenance strategy was determined by a Monte Carlo simulation algorithm for two classes of rail. The effects of reliability level and improvement factor on maintenance strategies were discussed numerically.