AN INVESTIGATION OF EFFECTS OF AXLE LOAD AND TRAIN SPEED AT RAIL JOINT USING FINITE ELEMENT METHOD

Abstract

The goal of this research is to investigate the effects of axle load and train speed at rail joint. A three-dimensional finite element analysis of a rail/wheel contact is conducted on the rail joint section of track and dynamic load is applied to develop an estimate respective stresses at the section. In Autodesk Inventor, different components of wheel/rail assembly i.e. wheel, rail, joint, bars, nuts, bolts, and washers are created separately then all components are assembled, and create a complete model of wheel/rail assembly. The finite element program ANSYS is used to model the contact analysis. This ANSYS is used to simulate the loading and boundary conditions of the rail and wheel contact for a stress analysis. Material properties are assumed to be same for rail and wheel, and considered to be bilinear kinematic hardening in ANSYS.A 3-D finite element model for element model for wheel/rail rolling contact is developed on the most critical section of rail track i.e., rail joint to calculate elastic-plastic finite element analysis and 3D stress response in the contact region. These models should be accurately calculating the 3D stress response in the contact region. The reason for this study is to investigate possible changes in rail and wheel contact design in order to improve the performance of the rail track. Obtained results indicate that the von mises stresses, the maximum shear stress and the Equivalent elastic strain are increases linearly with increasing axle load and the effect of train speed on above parameters is relatively weak.