PREDICTION OF WHEEL PROFILE WEAR

Abstract

The way wheel profile wear affects the performance of rail vehicles mainly falls into two categories. First category includes a safety of the system against derailment, most notably the safe passing, of turnouts. The second category is related to the dynamic performance of the vehicle. The use of frictional forces between the wheel and rail to negotiate vehicles in track and to accelerate and brake a vehicle is inherent to a conventional wheel rail system. This fact, together with the slip and significant normal forces between the wheel and rail, inevitably leads to changes in wheel profile due to material removal defined as wear. Many rail-road engineers who performed various experiments regarding the wheel wear, have made significant observations. On the basis of these observations, a mathematical model is developed to predict the wear of railway wheel under different operating conditions.