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The railway wheel is a prioritized component for vehicle maintenance as it takes a significant portion of maintenance costs [1]. The subsurface-initiated rolling contact fatigue is one of the crucial deteriorations, which requires careful monitoring for wheel maintenance [2]-[3]. Due to improved quality control in wheel manufacturers and maintenance actions in railway operators, subsurface-initiated rolling contact fatigue rarely happens these days in passenger trains. However, it is always risky to trigger catastrophic accidents such as derailment once the fatigue failure occurs.
There are two main methodologies in this study. First, fatigue initiating wheel defect size of the passenger train is estimated using Murakami's theory [4]. It uses the Dang Van stress as a fatigue index in the defect size estimation. Based on contact force measurements from wheel load detectors located in Sweden, this study predicts the initiation of subsurface-initiated rolling contact fatigue on wheels of passenger trains containing material defects.
Secondly, the influence of finite boundary effects on the subsurface stress field is studied by comparing stress from elastic Finite Element simulations with the analytical solution for semi-infinite bodies [5]. The study includes an investigation of the influence of wheel reprofiling and lateral contact load position.
Finally, it establishes an equivalent Dang Van Wöhler curve (often called SN curve) for passenger train wheels, considering fatigue life reduction due to material defects [6].
References
[1] Mattsson, K., Lee, J., & Ligmajer, O. (2022). Handling increased need of maintenance to meet future freight demands: Deterioration and effective maintenance strategies for track system and rail vehicles.
[2] Ekberg, A., Kabo, E., Nielsen, J. C., & Lundén, R. (2007). Subsurface initiated rolling contact fatigue of railway wheels as generated by rail corrugation. International Journal of Solids and Structures, 44(24), 7975-7987
[3] Kabo, E., Enblom, R., & Ekberg, A. (2011). A simplified index for evaluating subsurface initiated rolling contact fatigue from field measurements. Wear, 271(1-2), 120-124.
[4] Ekberg, A., Kabo, E., Andersson, H. (2002). An engineering model for prediction of rolling contact fatigue of railway wheels. Fatigue Fracture of Engineering Materials Structures, 25(10), 899-909
[5] Lundberg, G., & Sjövall, H. (1958). Stress and deformation in elastic contacts, institute of theory of elasticity and strength of materials. In Chalmers Inst. Tech., Pub. 4, Gothenburg, Sweden
[6] Sandström, J. (2012). Subsurface rolling contact fatigue damage of railway wheels–a probabilistic analysis. International Journal of Fatigue, 37, 146-152
| Keywords | Railway wheels, subsurface-initiated rolling contact fatigue, material defect, Dang Van criterion, Murakami's condition |
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