Analysis of the wheel and rail frictionless normal contact considering material parameters

This study presents the rail wheel contact problems under normal and tangential categories. Both analytical and numerical approaches were used for modelling, where the analytical approach assumed elliptical contact patches based on the Hertz theory. In the numerical approach, 3D finite element models were used to investigate non-elliptical contact patches. The only elastic material model was considered in the case of Hertz theory. However, in the case of finite element analysis, both elastic and elastoplastic material models were used to simulate the material's behavior under the applied load. The elastoplastic material model was used to determine the amount of stress at which the plastic deformation starts, which enables determining the rail wheel's critical load. The commercial software ABAQUS was employed for 3D modeling and contact stress analysis. The study shows maximum stress at 3 mm from the rail wheel contact surface when the maximum load of 85 kN is applied. This initiates the cracks in the subsurface and causes the portion of the rail wheel to break off in the form of spalling after a certain time.

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Fatigue life analysis of wheel-rail contacts at railway turnouts using finite element modelling approach.

Jelila

Lemu

Pamuła

et al. 2021

IOP Conf. Ser.: Mater. Sci. Eng.

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The article deals with wheel-rail contact analysis at railway turnout using a finite element modelling approach. The focus is understanding the wheel-rail contact problems and finding the means of reducing these problems at railway turnouts. The main aim of the work reported in this article is to analyse fatigue life and simulate the wheel-rail contact problems for a repeated wheel loading cycle by considering the effect of normal and tangential contact force impact under different vehicle loading conditions. The study investigates the impact of tangential contact force generated due to different-angled shapes of the turnout and aims to reveal how it affects the life of contacting surfaces. The obtained results show that the maximum von-Mises equivalent alternating stress, maximal fatigue sensitivity, and maximum hysteresis loop stresses were observed under tangential contact force. These maximum stresses and hysteresis loops are responsible for rolling contact fatigue damage, and excessive deformation of the wheel-rail contact surface. At a constant rotational velocity, the tangential contact force has a significant impact on the fatigue life cycle and wheel-rail material subjected to fatigue damage at lower cycles compared to the normal contact force. The finite element modelling analysis result indicated that the contact damages and structural integrity of the wheel-rail contact surface are highly dependent on contact force type and can be affected by the track geometry parameters.

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Analysis of the wheel and rail frictionless normal contact considering material parameters

Cited by 6 publications

References 16 publications

Study of Wheel-Rail Contacts at Railway Turnout Using Multibody Dynamics Simulation Approach

Study of Wheel-Rail Contacts at Railway Turnout Using Multibody Dynamics Simulation Approach

Study of rail-wheel contact problem by analytical and numerical approaches

Fatigue life analysis of wheel-rail contacts at railway turnouts using finite element modelling approach.

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