Fatigue damage assessment of complex railway turnout crossings via Peridynamics-based digital twin

Abstract

Railway turnouts are essential in the train traffic route management for modern railways. Despite significant devotion to railway turnout research, one of their most common failures has not been thoroughly investigated, which is a fatigue over the turnout crossing nose. At the crossings, wheel-rail discontinuity imparts high-frequency high-magnitude forces, which are the source of fatigue failure over the crossing nose. In this study, a novel approach built on “Peridynamics” (PD) has been developed to obtain new insights into the fatigue cracks. A recent approach using “crack on mid-plane” has also been employed in this study to enhance the limited capability of Peridynamics. This paper is the world’s first to investigate fatigue failures over a crossing nose from fracture mechanics perspective. This paper also introduces a novel adaptive time-mapping method as an alternative to earlier time-mapping methods for fatigue models proposed in the open literature. The new model has been verified against both Finite Element Method and experimental data. It reveals that our new approach can simulate fatigue damage, particularly in mode I crack propagation. The study has provided important insights on the fatigue crack development, which is not possible before by existing Peridynamics fatigue model. The new approach on the basis of “adaptive time-mapping” and “crack on mid-plane” is demonstrated to be effective and efficient in PD simulations.

Embedded Highway Health Maintenance System Based on Digital Twin Superposition Model

“…The structural layer of asphalt pavement is not strong enough to withstand the vibration of motor vehicles. The bending deformation of foundation works and cement concrete pavement is transmitted vertically upward to the concrete base, and the overall structure of the road is caused by the bending deformation [11]. The deformation of flexible cement concrete pavement is large, and the foundation bearing capacity of soft soil cement concrete pavement and high fill cement concrete pavement are the factors causing damage to the foundation structure [12].…”

Digital Twin for Railway: A Comprehensive Survey

“…[15] High-dimensional Structures Fault diagnosis of railway point machine A digital twin can identify the possible root causes of malfunctions, leading to accurate and real-time monitoring and diagnosis of faults in railway point machines. [58] Peridynamics Fatigue damage assessment of complex railway turnout crossings A novel approach built on peridynamics and "crack on mid-plane" can investigate fatigue failures over a crossing nose from a fracture mechanics perspective.…”

“…• Peridynamics: Peridynamics can be used for fatigue damage assessment of complex railway turnout crossings. It is a non-local continuum mechanics theory that can be used to simulate material behavior under extreme conditions as leveraged in [58] for crossing nose. The scope of this technology is to improve the safety of railway crossings and reduce the likelihood of catastrophic failures.…”

Cyclic Hardening and Fatigue Damage Features of 51CrV4 Steel for the Crossing Nose Design

“…Experimental and numerical investigations have been carried out, in order to identify the main features for improving the prediction of these failure phenomena. Implementation studies with digital twin techniques have been carried out, to assess the damage from fatigue [1,[4][5][6]. Concerns exist regarding the dynamics between a wheel and the rail contact forces.…”