Numerical investigation for creep curve evaluation on a twin-disc test scenario using finite elements

Recent studies have evaluated mechanical contact phenomena through numerical simulations. Commonly, in the wheel-rail context for railway engineering applications, the wheel-rail contact and related phenomena have been addressed by the twin-disc test. It offers reliable information and insights for the study of phenomena such as wear and rolling contact fatigue—RCF. A numerical evaluation, in this context, may offer a complementary approach to understand these phenomena. In this context, stress and strain fields may be obtained and provide a basis for discussion and better interpretation of physical tests. The present work seeks to evaluate and understand the contact interaction in the twin-disc test with the aid of computational simulations using mainly the finite element method. The numerical reproduction of all inherent characteristics of the test is a challenging task. More specifically, the relative slip rate of the discs, a key kinematic parameter of the physical test, represents a crucial feature of the modelling process. There is specific software, such as CONTACT, where the inherent characteristics of the rolling contact are easily manipulated and can be used as a reference for the sake of comparison of results on the contact interface. The main contribution of the herein proposed approach is the reproduction of the so-called creep curves, while the stress–strain fields of the discs are fully assessed. The numerical results represent a conceptual base for better interpretation of the experiments. This leads to a discussion on predicting crack initiation candidate points and wear-prone regions, thus providing a numerical–theoretical source for explanation of some results observed in the literature.