Three Dimensional Finite Element Analysis of Rolling Contact between Wheel and Rail

The fatigue performance of the rails is affected by many factors, including service conditions, loading, mechanical properties, environment factors, and manufacturing processes. In this paper, the investigation on wheel-rail to identify the initial damages caused by Rolling Contact Fatigue (RCF) cra...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inInternational journal of vehicle structures and systems Vol. 9; no. 3; pp. 186 - 189
Main Authors Gurubaran, P., Afendi, M., Haftirman, I., Nanthini, K.
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Chennai MechAero Foundation for Technical Research & Education Excellence 06.09.2017
Subjects
CAD
Computer aided design
Computer simulation
Contact pressure
Contact stresses
Crack initiation
Crack propagation
Damage detection
Failure analysis
Fatigue cracks
Fatigue failure
Finite element analysis
Finite element method
Fracture mechanics
Investigations
Load
Mathematical analysis
Mechanical properties
Metal fatigue
Propagation
Rail steels
Rails
Rolling contact
Stress analysis
Stress concentration
Stress intensity factors
Stress propagation
Structural steels
Three dimensional analysis
Three dimensional models
Tribology
Yield stress
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Summary:The fatigue performance of the rails is affected by many factors, including service conditions, loading, mechanical properties, environment factors, and manufacturing processes. In this paper, the investigation on wheel-rail to identify the initial damages caused by Rolling Contact Fatigue (RCF) cracks and the location that experienced damages is presented. UIC 54kg rail (grade 900A) was used as the model in three dimensional (3D) finite element contact analysis. The fatigue crack growth on wheel-rail was carried out by considering the Hertz contact pressure. The finite element analysis results show that maximum stress concentration zone was between the wheel-rail surface (rail inside curve gauge corner) and it is above the yield stress limit for wheel-rail steel. Fatigue crack propagation within a depth affected stress concentration region was predicted. The stress intensity factors (SIF) for mode I, mode II and mode III fracture were plotted from ANSYS simulation. Three types of fracture modes were affected the UIC54kg rail Steel to fail or develop initial failure when the crack propagation exceeds 5 mm.
ISSN:0975-3060
0975-3540
DOI:10.4273/ijvss.9.3.11