The influence of corrugation on frictional stress at the rail-wheel interface

Journal article, 2016

The influence of rail and wheel corrugation on vertical and tractive forces is studied, in this paper, for high-speed trains with the aim of evaluating the risk for surface initiated rolling contact fatigue (RCF). A train-track interaction model for vertical dynamics, which accounts for a prescribed torque on the wheelset and for the highfrequency content of the induced force spectrum, is employed. Corrugation distributions according to ISO 3095 (smooth rail) and as obtained from field measurements (corrugated rail) are considered. A parametric study is carried out in which level of corrugation, tractive effort and vehicle speed are varied. Also the influences of axle load and unsprung mass are investigated. The results are interpreted in terms of rolling contact fatigue impact spectra and by using the Tgamma energy model. If is found that the two models give similar tendencies regarding the surface initiated RCF impact. As expected, the traction effort will dominate the development of RCF, but significant influences are also found for corrugation, speed, axle load and unsprung mass.