Effect of wheel diameter difference on tread wear of freight wagons

Abstract Wheel wear is a fundamental problem for railway vehicles. The unequal wear rate of the two wheels of a wheelset results in the wheel diameter difference (WDD). The WDD and wheel wear not only affect the dynamic performances of rail vehicles, but also increase the maintenance cost. This paper presents an investigation of the effect of the WDD on tread wear for freight wagons based on extensive field measurements and numerical simulations. The evolution laws of the WDD and tread wear of 4 freight wagons are first analyzed based on the monitoring data in an operation period of 200,000 km. A freight wagon dynamics model considering wheel-rail non-Hertzian contact is then established to study the influence of the WDD on the wheel tread wear of a freight wagon. The correlation analysis of wheel tread wear and the WDD is conducted based on the field test data. The results show that the initial WDD significantly affects the shapes and stress distributions of wheel-rail contact patches. The WDD can lead to the asymmetric wear of the two wheels of a wheelset, which conversely aggravates the WDD in return.

[1]  Edwin A. H. Vollebregt,et al.  A new solver for the elastic normal contact problem using conjugate gradients, deflation, and an FFT-based preconditioner , 2014, J. Comput. Phys..

[2]  Guus Segal,et al.  Solving conformal wheel–rail rolling contact problems , 2014 .

[3]  Stefano Bruni,et al.  A mathematical model to predict railway wheel profile evolution due to wear , 2006 .

[4]  Maksym Spiryagin,et al.  Model to estimate infrastructure damage costs for different train types , 2019 .

[5]  J. J. Kalker,et al.  Rolling contact phenomena , 2000 .

[6]  Liang Ling,et al.  Influence of wheel diameter difference on surface damage for heavy-haul locomotive wheels: Measurements and simulations , 2020 .

[7]  Ali Naghash Asadi,et al.  Rail vehicle wheel wear prediction: a comparison between analytical and experimental approaches , 2008 .

[8]  M. Dhanasekar,et al.  Wear damage of out-of-round wheels in rail wagons under braking , 2019, Engineering Failure Analysis.

[9]  Elena Kabo,et al.  The detrimental effects of hollow wear––field experiences and numerical simulations , 2008 .

[10]  Pierre-Etienne Gautier,et al.  Assessment of a semi-Hertzian method for determination of wheel–rail contact patch , 2006 .

[11]  J. Paulo Davim,et al.  A study on milling of glass fiber reinforced plastics manufactured by hand-lay up using statistical analysis (ANOVA) , 2004 .

[12]  Liang Ling,et al.  Analysis on the features and potential causes of wheel surface damage for heavy-haul locomotives , 2020 .

[13]  J. Archard.  Contact and Rubbing of Flat Surfaces , 1953 .

[14]  Ping Wang,et al.  Numerical investigation on wheel-turnout rail dynamic interaction excited by wheel diameter difference in high-speed railway , 2017 .

[15]  Jerzy Piotrowski,et al.  Wheel–rail contact models for vehicle system dynamics including multi-point contact , 2005 .

[16]  Zili Li,et al.  Wheel-Rail Rolling Contact and Its Application to Wear Simulation , 2002 .

[17]  T. Xin,et al.  The initiation mechanism and distribution rule of wheel high-order polygonal wear on high-speed railway , 2021 .

[18]  Fu Li,et al.  Research on wheel hollow wear and dynamic performance of freight radial bogies , 2017 .

[19]  Stefano Bruni,et al.  A non-Hertzian method for solving wheel–rail normal contact problem taking into account the effect of yaw , 2016 .

[20]  Andrzej Chudzikiewicza,et al.  Modelling of wheel profile wear for increased axle load , 2006 .

[21]  Oldrich Polach,et al.  Wheel profile design for target conicity and wide tread wear spreading , 2011 .

[22]  T. G.K Pearce,et al.  Prediction of wheel profile wear , 1991 .

[23]  K. Johnson,et al.  Three-Dimensional Elastic Bodies in Rolling Contact , 1990 .

[24]  Jerzy Piotrowski,et al.  A simplified model of wheel/rail contact mechanics for non-Hertzian problems and its application in rail vehicle dynamic simulations , 2008 .

[25]  Fengshou Gu,et al.  A novel approach to modelling and simulation of the dynamic behaviour of the wheel-rail interface , 2011, The 17th International Conference on Automation and Computing.

[26]  Qin Hu,et al.  A compound fault integrated diagnosis method for rotating machinery base on dimensionless immune detector , 2013, 2013 25th Chinese Control and Decision Conference (CCDC).

[27]  J. Ambrósio,et al.  Mapping railway wheel material wear mechanisms and transitions , 2010 .

[28]  J. J. Kalker,et al.  Rolling contact phenomena: Linear elasticity , 2000 .

[29]  Simon Iwnicki,et al.  Comparison of wear models for simulation of railway wheel polygonization , 2019, Wear.