The Development of a Wheel Wear and Rolling Contact Fatigue Model

Task T549 is a Rail Safety & Standards Board project with the objective of developing a wheel wear and rolling contact fatigue (RCF) model. This report completes task T549. It describes the development of a wheel RCF model that takes account of wheel wear and meets the task objective. The methodology used to develop the wheel RCF model was to compare observations of wheel wear and RCF with predictions from computer simulations of vehicles. The simulation outputs were post-processed using several alternative damage hypotheses. The final model uses a damage function that gives good agreement with observations of the most common type of wheel RCF. Observations of wheel wear and RCF were made on three classes of vehicle over a period of 12 months. The vehicles provided a reasonable sample of modern rolling stock and operating profiles. Considerable scatter was found in the vehicle observations, but trends were established that enabled the wheel RCF model to be calibrated. Computer simulations of the vehicles were performed to predict wheel/rail contact parameters. Considerable care was taken to represent the track inputs and operating profiles accurately. The proposed wheel RCF damage model takes account of severe wear, but it is not a substitute for state-of-the-art wheel wear models. Guidelines have been provided for using the proposed wheel RCF model. Either detailed modelling of vehicle dynamics over the route in question needs to be performed, or steady-state calculations over a range of track curvatures and cant deficiencies must be made.

• Record URL:
  • http://www.rssb.co.uk/pages/research-catalogue/pb009670.aspx
• 
• Corporate Authors:

  Rail Safety and Standards Board

  Evergreen House, 160 Euston Road
  London NW1 2DX,   United Kingdom 
• Authors:
  • Tunna, John
  • Sinclair, John
  • Perez, Javier
• Publication Date: 2007-9-25

Language

• English

Media Info

• Media Type: Web
• Features: Figures; Maps; References; Tables;
• Pagination: 111p

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Fatigue (Mechanics); Railroad trains; Railroad wheels; Rolling contact; Rolling stock; Simulation; Wear
• Uncontrolled Terms: Damage models
• Subject Areas: Railroads; Vehicles and Equipment;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01088869
• Record Type: Publication
• Report/Paper Numbers: T549
• Files: TRIS
• Created Date: Feb 25 2008 2:36PM