Numerical Analysis of the Cross-Wedge of a Hollow Rail Axle

Abstract

The article presents an innovative method of manufacturing hollow rail axles using three combined wedge rolls. The proposed solution was evaluated using numerical simulation. Two cases of forming, differing in the wall thickness of the billet, were analysed. The geometry of the formed axles, distributions of the effective strain, temperature and damage function were presented. Moreover, the changes to the forces and torques acting on each roll were presented.

A Comparative Analysis of Forming Railway Axles in 3- and 4-Roll Rolling Mills

“…Numerical simulations were performed using the commercial simulation program Simufact.Forming. This program had been effectively used before for analyzing both cross and skew-rolling processes [11,12,14,[24][25][26]. The numerical results obtained showed a high level of agreement with experimental findings.…”

“…This solution allows reducing the diameter of the rolls to 1200 mm, which also causes a significant decrease in torque. For hollow axles, an innovative technique of rolling with three joint rolls was proposed [12], which ensures a rapid removal of cross sectional ovalization. It is also worth noting that in the aforementioned studies, numerical modelling was widely employed or rolling experiments were performed under laboratory conditions (usually, in a scale of 1:5).…”

Conception of a Three Roll Cross Rolling Process of Hollow Rail Axles

“…In the case of rail axles, however, special joint rolls have to be used, which complicates the forming process. 16) An alternative to the CWR processes may be cross rolling (CR) with three rolls, based on the method of rotary compression of hollow elements [17][18][19] developed and researched in Lublin University of Technology. This process is presented further in this study exemplified by rolling E-and K-class American standard rail axles, shown in Fig.…”

Numerical analysis of the cross rolling process of a hollow railway axle

“…Problem ten można wyeliminować, korzystając z trzech narzędzi kształtujących (walców). Jednakże -jak wykazano w pracy [7] -ze względu na długość walcowanej osi trzeba wówczas stosować specjalne walce zespolone, co komplikuje przebieg kształtowania.…”