Dynamic Analysis of Wheel-Rail Interaction Stress Distribution for ENR Locomotives

Abstract

Egyptian rails have gotten worn as a result of a lack of upkeep and inadequate rail grinding. If the new locomotives are designed to work with standard tracks, they should be able to move more efficiently and safely on standard rails than worn ones that were not designed for standard tracks. The contact stress variation brought on by variations in the wheel-rail contact profile has a significant impact on the safety of railway traffic. In this article, a standard rail UIC54 and a wheel profile as per Egyptian Railway standards are taken into consideration to explore the impact of interacting wheel and rail profile topology. Standard rail and a real worn rail from the Egyptian National Railways (ENR) have different rail profile radii. The problem is undertaken using ANSYS Finite Element Method (FEM). All required elements of the rail system were modeled for analyses., such as rail, wheel, and axle. These tools obtain the distribution of contact stress, contact pressure, and fatigue for standard and damaged rail profiles. Using stress distribution obtained through FEM analysis, the effects of the change in Egyptian rail profiles with ENR New locomotives’ wheel on the contact stress is investigated. Contact stresses for the worn rail profile are up to 40% lower than those for an unused ENR rail profile. As the worn rail has a larger contact area than the standard rail, there is a reduction in the life cycles to failure., and fatigue damage rises as the contact stresses decrease.

Keywords

• wheel-rail contact stresses
• finite element analysis
• wear
• ansys