Wheel/Rail Two-Point Contact Geometry with Back-of-Flange Contacts

Abstract

In this investigation, a numerical procedure that can be used for the three-dimensional analysis of wheel and rail contact geometry is developed using the constraint contact formulation. The locations of contact points are determined for given lateral and yaw displacements of a wheelset when one-point contact is considered for each wheel, while these two displacements are no longer independent once the flange comes into contact with rail. A systematic procedure for predicting the flange contact point is developed and used for the initial estimate of the three-dimensional lead/lag flange contact analysis. It is shown that the location of the lead/lag flange contact varies in highly nonlinear manner for the change in the wheelset yaw displacement. Numerical results are presented in order to demonstrate the use of the contact algorithm developed in this investigation. The results obtained for a one-point wheel/rail contact problem shows good agreements with those obtained using the existing method that has been used in one-point contact problems. The method proposed in this investigation allows for predicting the location of lead/lag flange contact points. Furthermore, a simple procedure for predicting the location of contact point on the back of flange is presented.