Development of a model for predicting worn profile of rail under the mixed slip conditions

Abstract

Rail wear does not develop in a short term, but it is closely related to crack initiation. Furthermore, there is a possibility that the worn profile of rail influences the curving performance or the running stability. However, worn profiles of rail changes complexity in each section (e.g. straight section, transition curve section, circular curve section) because the condition of wheel/rail contact changes gradually, according to the running condition of vehicle and track geometry conditions. Predicting the worn profiles of rail should be considered based on the results of the vehicle dynamics analysis. Therefore, it is very beneficial to predict the worn profiles of rail based on the analysis by using multibody dynamics. The purpose of this study is to develop the prediction model for worn profile of rail under the various angle of attack by using multibody dynamics. Especially, we focused on the wear development due to longitudinal slip and lateral slip. In the beginning of this study, the wear experiment was conducted by using the wheel/rail rolling contact equipment under the mixed slip conditions. Secondary, the prediction model with Simpack was developed. Then, wear predicting analysis was conducted in the same contact conditions as the experiments. Finally, we evaluated the results of analysis to validate the developed model under the various mixed slip conditions. As a result of the experiment and the analysis, it was revealed that the wear development under the mixed slip conditions can be evaluated by the contribution ratio of longitudinal slip and lateral slip.

Keywords

• wear development
• wear prediction
• wheel/rail
• archard
• multibody dynamics
• rolling contact
• slip