Fatigue of railway wheels

Book chapter, 2009

Wheel fatigue – the formation of cracks on wheel tread, in wheel rim or on the wheel disk, is a crucial phenomenon in assuring safe and reliable rail transportations. In the current chapter a background to the phenomenon is given. The appearance and mechanisms of different forms of wheel fatigue are discussed and predictive models are presented. The influence of some operational factors and interacting deterioration phenomena are then discussed before the chapter ends with concluding remarks and an outlook on future trends.