Influence of axle load on rolling contact fatigue

Paper in proceeding, 2025

In relation to an axle load upgrade, an analysis is performed to evaluate the impact on rolling contact fatigue (RCF) of wheels and rails. To this end, analytical assessments are employed to obtain general estimations of the increased damage related to subsurface and surface initiated RCF, and initiation and growth of tension-driven cracks. For surface initiated RCF the investigation includes an analysis of measured wheel load spectra. The outcome of the analysis is a quantification of the expected decrease in fatigue life with focus on an on-going axle load increase from 30 to 32.5 tonnes.