A SEMI-PHYSICAL MODEL TO PREDICT PLASTICITY IN RAILWAY TURNOUT CROSSINGS

Paper in proceeding, 2022

Large dynamic contact forces in railway turnouts cause severe changes in the profile of the crossing-nose. To predict these changes, the whole system model (WSM) was developed, which uses extensive FEM simulations for the rail damage calculations that are very computationally intensive. To substitute these simulations and, thus, majorly enhance the overall performance of the WSM methodology, the semi-physical plasticity (SPP) metamodel has been developed. The SPP model is based on three foundational assumptions on the wear area, shape change area and wheel profiles envelope effects to reproduce the profile development of the crossing nose. The SPP results have shown an overall good correlation with the FEM results and, due to the semi-physical nature of the model, the computational time for such predictions was significantly improved as compared to the FEM simulations (seconds instead of weeks). The developed model will be useful for effective and time-efficient rail surface damage prediction and, as part of the WSM, contribute to the fast holistic track damage prognosis.