The influence of asymmetric rail cant on rail corrugation in a small-radius curve section

Abstract

A suitably designed rail cant can improve the wheel-rail alignment, effectively reduce the wheel-rail contact pressure and reduce the wheel-rail wear. However, the rail base cant has rarely been specifically designed for suppressing rail corrugation. Furthermore, no studies have yet been conducted on using different inner and outer rail cants in small-radius curve sections from the perspective of suppressing rail corrugations and wear. In this study, the growth rate index of rail corrugation is obtained by combining an impact hammer origin admittance test and a coupled vehicle-track multi-body dynamic model simulations. The wear depth of rail surface is obtained by combining a three-dimensional transient wheel-rail rolling contact model and Archard wear theory. From the overall perspective of preventing rail corrugation and slowing down rail wear, based on the multi-objective optimization using a particle swarm optimization algorithm, the optimal configuration of inner and outer rail cants in a small-radius curve section were determined as 1/22 and 1/40, respectively, which provided effective suppression of rail corrugation initiation and further development of rail wear.