PurposeIn order to systematically grasp the changes and matching characteristics of wheel and rail profiles of high speed railway (HSR) in China, 172 rail profile measurement points and 384 wheels of 6 high-speed electric motive unites (EMUs) were selected on 6 typical HSR lines, including Beijing–Shanghai, Wuhan–Guangzhou, Harbin–Dalian, Lanzhou–Xinjiang, Guiyang–Guangzhou and Dandong–Dalian for a two-year field test.Design/methodology/approachBased on the measured data, the characteristics of rail and wheel wear were analyzed by mathematical statistics method. The equivalent conicity of wheel and rail matching in a wheel reprofiling cycle was analyzed by using the measured rail profile.FindingsResults showed that when the curve radius of HSR was larger than 2,495 m, the wear rate of straight line and curve rail was almost the same. For the line with annual traffic gross weight less than 11 Mt, the vertical wear of rail was less than 0.01 mm. The wear rate of the rail with the curve radius less than 800 m increased obviously. The wheel tread wear of EMUs on Harbin–Dalian line, Lanzhou–Xinjiang line and Dandong–Dalian line was relatively large, and the average wear rate of tread was about 0.05–0.06 mm·(10,000 km)−1, while that of Beijing–Shanghai line, Wuhan–Guangzhou line and Guiyang–Guangzhou line was about 0.03–0.035 mm·(10,000 km)−1. When the wear range was small, the equivalent conicity increased with the increase of wheel tread wear. When the wear range of wheel was wide, the wheel–rail contact points were evenly distributed, and the equivalent conicity did not increase obviously.Originality/valueThis research proposes the distribution range of the equivalent conicity in one reprofiling cycle of various EMU trains, which provides guidance for the condition-based wheel reprofiling.

No abstract

No abstract

Wheel wear is one of the most critical factors affecting the vehicle performances and maintenance costs of railway vehicles. However, previous research has to ignore the initial wheel-rail profiles for the evolution of wheel wear. Therefore, this work investigates the relationship between the evolution of wheel wear corresponding to different initial wheel-rail profiles and vehicle dynamics, wheel-rail deterioration. Firstly, the evolution of wheel wear during a long service period is measured from two high-speed railway trains running on two different lines. Contact geometry, e.g., equivalent conicity and contact pair distribution, are extracted. After that, the influence of wheel wear on the vehicle dynamic performance is studied using a multi-body dynamic software. The calculated contact parameters, e.g., pressure, shear traction, and creepage, are used to analyze the distribution of rolling contact fatigue. Based on the experimental and simulation results, the initial wheel and rail profiles significantly affects the wheel wear pattern, the thin rim wheel has uniform wear, and other wheels occurs hollow wear. The hollow wear can lead to gradual deterioration of vehicle dynamics, which conversely aggravates the wheel reprofiling.