Wheel-rail wear characteristics of a modern tram passing curves with small radius

Abstract

The wheel-rail wear was predicted for modern trams with independently rotating wheelset running on a groove-shaped rail. The tram vehicle-track coupled dynamics model, considering the wheel-rail multi-point contact, was developed using software UM to evaluate the dynamic responses of the vehicle and track. Hertz contact theory, the FastSim algorithm, and Archard material wear model were used to solve the normal contact stress, tangential contact stress, and wheel-ail wear, respectively. The wheel and rail profiles were updated when the wear depth reached to 0.1 mm. In calculation, the wheel and rail wear was calculated and analyzed separately. The results of groove rail and independently rotating wheelset wear predicted by this model coincided with relevant literature, which proved the effectiveness of this model. The wheel and rail wear characteristics of modern trams passing through curved tracks with small radii and the influence of wheel-rail friction coefficient on wheel and rail wear were calculated and analyzed using this model. The results show that the wheel and rail wear on the circular curve and the rear transition curve is more intense. The wheel wear is the most intense on circular curve while the rail wear is on the rear transition curve. The wear of inner and outer rails and wheels of wheelset one increases with the increase of wheel-rail friction coefficient while the wear of inner and outer wheels of wheelset three have no obvious change. The wear of the inner and outer rails is the most intense at the gauge corner position while is the lightest at the guard rail. The wear of wheelset one is more intense than that of wheelset three and the inner wheel wear is more intense than that of the outer wheel. The present analysis contributes to improve the life of tram wheel and rail and reduce the frequency of wheel-rail maintenance during operation.