Failure analysis study of railway draw-hook coupler

Abstract

Failure analysis of railway draw-hook coupler was carried out. The nondestructive testing method was undertaken on some failed couplers in service to designate critical areas of a coupler. Draw-Hook coupler is used to connect with the same hook coupler or automatic coupler. The influence of each connection types on the coupler strength in this study was discussed. A numerical stress analysis using FEM was performed, and many approaches including critical plane approach were carried out on fatigue life prediction of coupler under different conditions. The results of the proposed fatigue criterion and fatigue life predictions, as well as static numerical analysis, are validated with experimental results.