Wheel/rail rolling contact fatigue – Probe, predict, prevent

Ekberg, Anders; Åkesson, Bengt; Kabo, Elena

doi:10.1016/j.wear.2013.12.004

Cited by 153 publications

(86 citation statements)

References 42 publications

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“…If the distribution of partial shear stress in the wheel-rail contact patch is not full-slip, the case will be more complicated. A straightforward approach in such a case would be to relate RCF damage to the local shear stress as [22,23]:…”

Section: Surface Initiated Rolling Contact Fatiguementioning

confidence: 99%

Parameters Studies on Surface Initiated Rolling Contact Fatigue of Turnout Rails by Three-Level Unreplicated Saturated Factorial Design

Wang

et al. 2018

Applied Sciences

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Surface initiated rolling contact fatigue (RCF), mainly characterized by cracks and material stripping, is a common type of damage to turnout rails, which can not only shorten service life of turnout but also lead to poor running safety of vehicle. The rail surface initiated RCF of turnouts is caused by a long-term accumulation, the size and distribution of which are related to the dynamic parameters of the complicated vehicle-turnout system. In order to simulate the accumulation of rail damage, some random samples of dynamic parameters significantly influencing it should be input. Based on the three-level unreplicated saturated factorial design, according to the evaluation methods of H, P and B statistic values, six dynamic parameters that influence the rail surface initiated RCF in turnouts, namely running speed of vehicle, axle load, wheel-rail profiles, integral vertical track stiffness and wheel-rail friction coefficient, are obtained by selecting 13 dynamic parameters significantly influencing the dynamic vehicle-turnout interaction as the analysis factors, considering four dynamic response results, i.e., the normal wheel-rail contact force, longitudinal creep force, lateral creep force and wheel-rail contact patch area as the observed parameters. In addition, the rail surface initiated RCF behavior in turnouts under different wheel-rail creep conditions is analyzed, considering the relative motion of stock/switch rails. The results show that the rail surface initiated RCF is mainly caused by the tangential stress being high under small creep conditions, the normal and tangential stresses being high under large creep conditions, and the normal stress being high under pure spin creep conditions.

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Section: Surface Initiated Rolling Contact Fatiguementioning

confidence: 99%

Parameters Studies on Surface Initiated Rolling Contact Fatigue of Turnout Rails by Three-Level Unreplicated Saturated Factorial Design

Wang

et al. 2018

Applied Sciences

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“…Additionally, it is well known that low cycle fatigue (rolling contact fatigue) behavior which stems from curving, braking and traction [2,13] is also a crucial subject for fatigue life evaluations of rails [14]. Rolling contact fatigue (RCF) defects such as head checks or squats develop on the rail heads and joint welds due to the accumulation of plastic deformations induced by the repeated wheel-rail interactions so called ratcheting mechanism [15].…”

Section: Fatigue Testsmentioning

confidence: 99%

An experimental investigation on flash butt welded rails

Özakgül

Piroglu

Caglayan

2015

Engineering Failure Analysis

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“…Heavier loads and increased accelerations and speeds on today's railways are causing increasing damage to rails and wheels [1][2][3]. The early detection and correct categorization of surface and near-surface defects could help reduce the maintenance costs as well as frequency and intensity of failures and accidents.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

3D characterization of rolling contact fatigue crack networks

Jessop

Ahlström

Hammar

et al. 2016

Wear

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a b s t r a c tRolling contact fatigue (RCF) damage is becoming more frequent with increased traffic, accelerations, and loading conditions in the railway industry. Defects which are characterized by a two-lobe darkened surface and a V-shaped surface-breaking crack are defined as squats. The origination and propagation of squats in railway rails is the topic of many recent studies; the associated crack networks develop with complicated geometry near the surface of rails, but can be difficult to detect and distinguish from normally existing head checks in their early stages, using in-field non-destructive detection techniques. After cutting out damaged sections of rail, there are a number of options to characterize the damage. The aim of this study was to evaluate different methods to geometrically describe squat crack networks; through X-ray radiography complemented with geometrical reconstruction, metallography, X-ray tomography, and topography measurements. The experiments were performed on squats from rail sections taken from the field. In the first method, high-resolution and high-energy X-ray images exposed through the entire rail head from a range of angles were combined using a semi-automated image analysis method for geometrical reconstruction, and a 3D representation of the complex crack network was achieved. This was compared with measurements on cross-sections after repeated metallographic sectioning to determine the accuracy of prediction of the geometrical reconstruction. A second squat was investigated by X-ray tomography after extraction of a section of the rail head. A third squat was opened by careful cutting, which gave full access to the crack faces, and the topography was measured by stylus profilometry. The high-energy X-ray, 3D reconstruction method showed accurate main crack geometry at medium depths; the advantage of the method being that it potentially could be developed for nondestructive testing in field. However significant drawbacks exist due to limitations in radiography in terms of detecting tightly closed cracks in very thick components. This includes the inability to detect the crack tips which is an important factor in determining the risks associated to a specific crack. Metallographic investigation of the cracks gave good interpretation of crack geometry along the sections examined, and gave the possibility to study microstructure and plastic deformation adjacent to the crack face. However this time-consuming method requires destruction of the specimen investigated. The X-ray tomography revealed the 3D crack network including side branches in a 10 Â 10 Â 30 mm 3 sample, and provided topographic information without completely opening the squat. Topography measurements acquired by stylus profilometry provided an accurate description of the entire main crack surface texture, including features such as surface ridges and beach marks.

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Wheel/rail rolling contact fatigue – Probe, predict, prevent

Cited by 153 publications

References 42 publications

Parameters Studies on Surface Initiated Rolling Contact Fatigue of Turnout Rails by Three-Level Unreplicated Saturated Factorial Design

Parameters Studies on Surface Initiated Rolling Contact Fatigue of Turnout Rails by Three-Level Unreplicated Saturated Factorial Design

An experimental investigation on flash butt welded rails

3D characterization of rolling contact fatigue crack networks

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