Influence of Rail Cant on High Rail Side Wear on Sharp Curve of Urban Transit

Abstract

The increasing of traffic and operation speed in urban transits has accelerated the degradation of track components. Rail wear, especially extended side wear of the high rail on sharp curves has caused rail premature failure. The factors that contributing to the rail side wear should be investigated in order to seek possible solutions to extend the rail service life and reduce maintenance cost. The rail wear is caused by the aggressive contact between the wheel and the rail. Rail cant directly affects the wheel-rail contact and the values varies depending on the choice of the transit agencies. There are several popular rail cants cross the world, namely 1:40, 1:30, 1:20, and so on. However, the optimal rail cant to minimize rail wear remains unknown. This study performs a numerical parametric analysis on the effect of rail cant on high rail side wear based on the vehicle-track multi-body dynamics. The wheel-rail contact state is calculated first with trains passing sharp curves with different rail cants. Then the high rail wear value is quantified by the Archard wear model. The numerical simulation in this study covers the whole process of the development of high rail side wear from the new rail status to the heavily worn status. The findings from this study could potential help to set the optimal cant for sharp curves in transit tracks.