Study on the residual stress distribution of railway rails

Abstract

Rolling contact fatigue damage of rails is significantly influenced by residual stresses. A three-dimensional elastic-plastic finite element model of wheel–rail contact was established in the present study, and the influence of initial stresses resulting from rail manufacturing process on the residual stress distribution of rails was analyzed. The repeated rolling passes were simulated and the stable residual stress distribution of rails was obtained. The influence of factors, such as wheel load, friction coefficient, and longitudinal creep rate, on the residual stress distribution of rails was investigated. It is found that within the limited special scale affected by the wheel–rail contact, the difference between the longitudinal residual stress with initial stresses applied and that without initial stresses applied becomes quite small once enough rolling passes have occurred (i.e., 10 rolling passes). When the initial stresses are applied, the longitudinal residual compressive stress on wheel–rail contact center of the rail is approximately 500 MPa. The residual compressive stress decreases with the increasing depth and changes from compression to tension at the depth of 6 mm beneath wheel–rail contact center of the rail. The wheel load mainly affects the residual stress distribution along the depth direction beneath rail surface. The friction coefficient mainly affects the residual stress distribution on the rail surface. The longitudinal creep rate has a great influence on the longitudinal residual stresses at the surface and along the depth of the rail.