SHATTERED RIM WHEEL DEFECTS AND THE EFFECT OF LATERAL LOADS AND BRAKE HEATING ON THEIR GROWTH

The Transportation Technology Center of the Association of American Railroads (AAR) has conducted research to determine the causes and behavior of shattered rim defects in railroad car wheels. This paper reports on results from this research. Shattered rim defects are the result of large fatigue cracks that propagate roughly parallel to the wheel tread surface. They form and grow 1/2 to 3/4 inch below the tread surface. Once a shattered rim crack is formed it will grow under normal rolling loads, so the prevention of shattered rims is best accomplished by preventing crack initiation. Shattered rims tend to occur in either relatively new wheels or those that are near their condemning limit. Recent changes have been made to ultrasonic test requirements in the AAR specification on carbon steel wheels in order to reduce the acceptable size of discontinuities. This will help reduce the occurrence of some shattered rims, but will not prevent the formation of all of them. In wheels with thinner rims, ultrasonic testing of returned wheels would be effective in reducing the incidence of shattered rims.

• Corporate Authors:

  American Society of Mechanical Engineers

  Two Park Avenue
  New York, NY  United States  10016-5990
• Authors:
  • Majumder, G
  • Stone, D H
  • Bowaj, V S
• Conference:
  • 2005 ASME International Mechanical Engineering Congress and Exposition
  • Location: Orlando FL, United States
  • Date: 2005-11-5 to 2005-11-11
• Publication Date: 2002

Language

• English

Media Info

• Features: References;
• Pagination: 3p

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Brakes; Carbon steel; Cracking; Defects; Loads; Mechanical fatigue; Metal heating; Railroad cars; Rolling; Shear stress; Tire treads; Ultrasonic tests; Wheel rims
• Identifier Terms: Association of American Railroads
• Uncontrolled Terms: Shattering
• Subject Areas: Materials; Railroads; Vehicles and Equipment;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00972580
• Record Type: Publication
• Files: TRIS
• Created Date: Apr 4 2004 12:00AM