Papers by Keyword: Railway Wheel

Abstract: Actuality. The accumulation of damage due to fatigue, plastic deformation, and wear significantly reduces the service life of railway rolled metal products. The development of a fatigue crack to its critical length (main cracks) leads to failure at stress levels much lower than the material's strength limit. In industrial-grade steels, there may be chemical micro-inhomogeneity of the main element—carbon. Objective of the study: To determine the effect of chemical micro-inhomogeneity (carbon content variation of 0.02%) on fatigue failure characteristics (crack growth rate, threshold stress intensity factor, fatigue life, and critical defect size) of railway wheel steels of grades ER7 and ER8 according to EN 13262. Results. Segments of the fatigue crack growth rate (FCGR) diagram were constructed to characterize the development of fatigue cracks. The crack growth rate on the second linear section of the diagram and the critical value of the stress intensity factor at which failure occurs were determined. It was found that on the linear portion, which describes the crack growth process, the indicator values vary slightly (up to 10%), indicating that the crack growth rate differs minimally between these steels. Fatigue life—the number of loading cycles until failure—was also determined, and the critical size of the fatigue crack was calculated. A carbon content fluctuation within 0.02% by mass leads to a reduction in fatigue life by approximately 10% for ER7 steel and about 20% for ER8 steel, and a reduction in the critical crack size by around 8% for ER7 and 18% for ER8. Conclusion. Chemical micro-inhomogeneity with carbon content variation in the range of 0.02% in ER7 and ER8 railway wheel steels leads to a decrease in fatigue life (as determined from specimens with cracks) and in the critical size of the fatigue crack (up to 20%). However, it has only a minor effect (about 10%) on the stable fatigue crack growth rate.

Abstract: The railway wheel in long-term running had experienced the wheel damage due to fatigue crack and shelling. The damaged wheel in railway vehicle would cause a poor ride comfort, a rise in the maintenance cost and even fracture of the wheel, which then leads to a tremendous social and economical cost. It is necessary to evaluate long-term damage of railway wheel in order to ensure the safety of wheel. To evaluate the damage for railway wheels, the measurements for the replication of wheel surface and residual stress of railway wheel using x-ray diffraction system were carried out. The result shows that the residual stress of wheel is depend on the running distance and thermal gradient during brake application also that the replication test can be applied in new evaluation method of wheel damage.

Abstract: An elastic-plastic finite element study on the contact of a railway wheel and a high manganese steel crossing is reported. The contact model of the wheel/crossing/ties is established to simulate the interactions between the wheel and crossing and between the crossing and ties. The effects of train speed and axle load on the von Mises stress and the equivalent plastic strain of the high manganese steel crossing are discussed.

Abstract: Upon investigation of the damaged wheels it was determined that the cracking was caused by thermal fatigue during on-tread friction braking. The thermal cracks appear as short cracks oriented axially on the wheel tread. Severe heating of the wheel tread during braking was believed to be a contributing the variation of residual stress which is related to wheel failure. It is necessary to evaluate the residual stress due to deterioration of wheel tread in order to ensure the safety of wheel. In the present paper, the residual stress of railway wheel for deterioration using x-ray diffraction system is evaluated. The result shows that the residual stress of wheel is depend on the running distance and the residual stress needs to be inspected between the wheel diameter of 800 and 780mm.

Abstract: X-ray stress measurement is useful for determining, in a non-destructive manner, the surface stresses of engineered parts.　However, the railway wheels cannot measure because this it is very large. So it should be measured using a scaled-down model. The problem is, however, how the stress release should be considered. In this analysis, the finite element method (FEM) was applied to estimate the initial stress state using stresses released after cutting a sample obtained by the X-ray method. Railway wheels were studied in this experiment. In the early 1990s, several railroads in the northeast of the U.S.A. experienced extensive cracking in the wheels of the commuter trains. Residual stresses in the hoop direction play an important role in mechanism fatigue damage. This paper will discuss about residual stress in the hoop direction in manufactured wheels. The results of FEM analysis and the X-ray diffraction method confirms that these methods can be used to evaluate the residual stress of the hoop direction. There is very good quantitative agreement between the simulated and measured stress distributions. It can be suggested that guessing guess stress release and the redistribution by the FEM analysis is possible. The residual hoop stress of the unused wheel presumed by this research has the residual stress of high compression in the wheel at the center of the rim up to 40mm depth.　It is very safe because the residual stress state is compressive even when a crack occurs, and obstructs the crack’s progress. If a crack occurs by any chance, the stress state can obstruct the crack’s progress.

Abstract: The defect initiation and crack propagation in wheel may result in the damage of the railway vehicle or derailment. Therefore, it is important to evaluate the characteristics of the wheel tread. In the present paper, the characteristics of wheel tread based on contact positions, running distance and brake pattern are evaluated. To evaluate the damage for railway wheels, the measurement for the replication of wheel surface is carried out. The result shows that the damaged wheel tread is remarkably depended on the contact positions between wheel and rail. It should be noted that the replication test can be applied in new evaluation method of wheel damage.