STRESS ANALYSIS OF RAILWAY WHEEL USING FINITE ELEMENT METHOD

Abstract

Stresses in Wheel/Rail are important as they determine capacity to carry load and failure in operation. Stress analysis can be done using Analytical methods, Experimental methods, and using tools like Boundary Element Method, Finite Element Method etc. In the present work stress analysis of Wheel/Rail is carried out with Finite Element based commercial software ANSYS. The report describes a simulation of the wheel/rail interaction of railroad car wheels. Specifically, the goal is to determine the contact stresses due to thermo mechanical loading. Knowledge of, and the ability to predict, these stresses is useful in assessing the ability of wheels to perform safely under expected service conditions and is useful for wear predictions. A finite element analysis is performed which simulates the wheel/rail contact by using wheel with axle supported on straight rails. A heat transfer analysis determines the transient thermal distribution during braking of these wheels. It is followed by a coupled thermo mechanical contact stress analysis to predict the contact stress distribution. The mechanical (stress) analysis employs an elastic-plastic material model with isotropic hardening. Contact stress distribution due to changes in the wheel profiles was studied. Submodelling technique of the ANSYS software is used to carry out global-local analysis to predict the stress at contact location. Further longitudinal load due to braking torque is also considered to find out the stress behavior of the wheel and rail.