Wheel flange rail head wear simulation

The difficulties and expenses involved in field experiments on wheel-rail system wear forced researchers to use, whenever possible, laboratory tests. The major problem in laboratory tests is how to transfer the results obtained to the real wheel-rail system. Modeling of the wear process between wheel flange and side face of a rail head is studied and discussed. It is noted that the laboratory tests with rolling-lateral sliding better simulates wheel flange and rail head wear. Four wear modes, referred to as mild, severe, heavy and catastrophic, have been identified in the laboratory tests. The heavy wear mode has not been identified before. The catastrophic wear mode has been observed at the lateral creepage of 5%. The wear modes that occur in worn wheel flanges and in side-worn rails have been found to correlate with those found on the rollers during laboratory tests. The boundaries of wear modes in terms of product of maximum contact pressure and creep value were defined. The hypothesis of wear mechanisms responsible for wear processes was suggested. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science S.A.