Abstract
Two field trials were set up during the period 1974–1984 to help understand the mechanism of formation of short pitch rail corrugation on British railways. These required the development of novel measuring equipment: a trolley profilometer and a straight edge device with microcomputer-based recording equipment. Regular monitoring was undertaken of test sections of main-line track. It was found that this type of corrugation arises from a mechanism of differential wear, in which corrugation troughs wear barely 10% more than the peaks. Grinding significantly reduces the roughness on new rail, so that even after 3 months of traffic the spectrum of roughness on new unground rail is greater than that on ground rail by a factor of 10. There is a corresponding delay in the formation of corrugation. Transverse marks arising from the grinding operation and with a pitch of 25–30 mm were worn away under traffic. Wheelslip of up to 15% was measured on a locomotive in service, which is sufficient to give the temperatures required for transformation of a thin layer of the rail surface to martensite. No explanation was found for the corrugation's periodicity.
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