REQUIREMENTS FOR THE RELIABILITY ASSESSMENT OF RAILROAD RAIL IN SERVICE

The increasing occurrence of defective railroad rail and the associated increase in train accidents has emphasized the need, both from safety and operation viewpoints, to consider the statistical character of rail failure. Even though wheel-rail contact stresses play a central role in many significant railroad problems (wear, traction, guidance, braking, headway, etc.), an adequate understanding of these stresses still eludes us. The complexity of the problem was illustrated, and the current status of knowledge was reviewed in such areas as: conformal contact (worn or "profiled" wheels), rolling contact, adhesion, creep, plastic flow, residual stresses, and surface roughness effects. Sources of information on these and related areas were identified, and physical and geometrical plausibility arguments were used to describe a number of major results which have been achieved by complex mathematical procedures.

• Availability:
  • Find a library where document is available. Order URL: http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/12903475
• Supplemental Notes:
  • This article is extracted from Symposium on Railroad Track Mechanics, RRIS 01 130826, Publication 7602.
• Corporate Authors:

  Princeton University

  Department of Civil Engineering
  Princeton, NJ  United States  08450
• Authors:
  • Steele, R K
• Conference:
  • Symposium on Railroad Track Mechanics
  • Location: New Jersey
  • Date: 1975-4-21 to 1975-4-23
• Publication Date: 1975-10

Media Info

• Pagination: p. 23-24
• Monograph Title: SYMPOSIUM ON RAILROAD TRACK MECHANICS PRINCETON UNIVERSITY, 1975

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Adhesion; Creep; Defects; Failure; Force; Mathematical models; Railroad rails; Railroad wheels; Safety; Statistical analysis; Stresses; Wheels
• Old TRIS Terms: Mathematical studies; Rail failure; Rail stress; Wheel creep
• Subject Areas: Data and Information Technology; Railroads; Safety and Human Factors; Vehicles and Equipment;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00130837
• Record Type: Publication
• Source Agency: Princeton University
• Report/Paper Numbers: 76-TR-1
• Contract Numbers: DOT-FR-54175
• Files: TRIS
• Created Date: Apr 7 1976 12:00AM