Investigation into static contact behavior in belt rail grinding using a concave contact wheel

Abstract

In order to establish a theoretical foundation of rail profile reshaping through belt grinding with a concave contact wheel, the static contact behavior between the contact wheel and railhead is preliminarily modeled and investigated. The geometry interference between wheel and rail profile under certain contact conditions is initially analyzed. Based on the integral method, 3D contact problem is then analyzed through transferring it as a series of 2D issues between a thin elastic sheet surrounded by a rigid circle base and a rigid plan, from which the boundary curve function and the stresses distribution of contact zone are developed. Results from both finite element simulations and real contact experiment have validated the availability of qualitative analysis and quantitative prediction of the proposed model. Results from model and validation have agreed that the contact zone shape should be classified into three types due to different contact conditions, namely the ellipse, the triangle, and the saddle-shape.