Fatigue Analysis on Railway Tracks

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Wear 258 (2005) 1288–1300 Fatigue of railway wheels and rails under rolling contact and thermal loading—an overview Anders Ekberga,∗ , Elena Kaboa,b a Department of Applied Mechanics/CHARMEC, Chalmers University of Technology, SE 412 96 Gothenburg, Sweden b Caran, Valdemar Nor´ ns Gata 3, SE 416 55 Gothenburg, Sweden e Received 13 June 2003; received in revised form 28 November 2003; accepted 1 March 2004 Available online 28 October 2004 Abstract An overview of rolling contact fatigue phenomena occurring at wheels and rails is given. The paper outlines mechanisms behind the various phenomena, means of prediction, influencing parameters and possible means of prevention. © 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. Keywords: Rolling contact fatigue; Railway wheels; Railway rails; Thermal loading; Martensite formation; Residual stresses 1. Introduction Considering a number of criteria such as capacity, speed and environment, railway is a superior mean of transportation. Specifically, it has gained a crucial role in limiting traffic congestion in heavily crowded regions. In this perspective, rolling contact fatigue (RCF) of railway components is a most crucial subject. RCF-caused accidents may not only cause personal injuries and economical costs, they may also tend people to commute by car, which further increases traffic congestion, causes environmental problems and eventually may lead to an increase in personal injuries since car traffic is significantly more unsafe than railway transportation. In this concept, also non-catastrophic RCF failures are of importance since they cause unplanned maintenance which eventually causes decreased capacity and delays in the train traffic. The current paper is aiming at an overview of RCF failures. Topics covered are failure mechanisms of railway components, possibilities and means of numerical modelling and prediction of RCF,

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