Study on modeling and numerical analysis for the prediction of wheel wear development

The rights-of-way of urban railway systems contain many sharp curves. Since sharp curves can contribute to wheel and rail wear, the ability to predict the development of wheel wear is crucial to maintaining safe operation of such systems. Observation of wear development in practical railway systems is inefficient and time consuming. In order to efficiently predict wheel wear, numerical analysis using multi-body dynamics software, such as Simpack, is proposed. Contact pressure, slip ratio, and other necessary parameters are determined from Simpack's vehicle motion analysis. Wear depth is derived to create a worn wheel profile. The current wheel profile is updated using the wear profile, and is then adopted as the new wheel profile in Simpack. The rail vehicle modeled in our numerical analysis is based on a typical Japanese commuter rail vehicle. Wear depth is calculated based on the Archard wear theory. Wear development in the wheel/rail contact area is calculated, and nodes are replaced by calculated wear depth. Validity of the wear coefficient used in the simulation is discussed. The results of the numerical analysis are compared with experimental results to assess the amount of wear from the viewpoint of mechanical and tribological contact problems.