The influence of lateral track irregularities on track shift forces, rolling contact fatigue and component fatigue

Other conference contribution, 2011

Optimised maintenance of railways requires a knowledge of how a deteriorated track geometry will affect subsequent loading and damage of the track. In the current study its influence on track shift forces, rolling contact fatigue and component fatigue is investigated through numerical simulations. Multibody simulations incorporating a track with scaled lateral track irregularities are combined with fatigue evaluations using criteria from the literature to quantify the progressively increasing track deterioration as lateral irregularities grow.