Surface damage of wheels and rails: similarities, differences and effective mitigation strategies

Paper in proceedings, 2019

Surface damage is manifest on rails and wheels in several ways that share similarities but also differ in some details. The forms of surface damage that are considered here are plastic deformation, wear, rolling contact fatigue and thermal damage. Although the phenomena are in principle the same, the different operational conditions result in differences in how they appear and develop. This is discussed in the paper and the knowledge is employed as a basis for outlining effective mitigation strategies.