Mechanism and test analysis of rail corrugation

Abstract

In view of the common phenomenon of rail corrugation on subway lines, both field measurement and numerical simulation were used to study mechanism of rail corrugation. In field measurement, vibration signals of vehicles were measured when a train passing through straight and curved segments. In numerical simulation, a model of single wheel set operating in curve rail is established. The good agreement between the results of field measurement and numerical simulation verified that the wavy wear is caused by the negative slope section of the wheel-rail viscous vibration characteristic. Under low load, stick-slip vibration occurs on the small radius curve of the wheelset, and the tangential creepage bouncing back and forth between the adhesive and sliding states will lead to uneven wear of the rail, resulting in initial rail corrugation. At the same time, the frequency distribution of vertical vibration acceleration is different when it passing through two relevant measured point, this means the stick-slip vibration can be eliminated by changing the wheel-rail creep characteristics by applying a third substance to the inner rail surface. And the wavelength of rail corrugation caused by the stick-slip vibration is predicted by numerical simulation and agrees well with that measured at the test site.

Keywords

• railway vehicle
• rail corrugation
• coupled wheelset
• stick-slip vibration
• numerical simulation