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International Journal of Railway Technology
ISSN 2049-5358
IJRT, Volume 1, Issue 2, 2012
Wheel-Rail Contact Modelling within Switches and Crossings
I. Coleman, E. Kassa and R. Smith

Full Bibliographic Reference for this paper
I. Coleman, E. Kassa, R. Smith, "Wheel-Rail Contact Modelling within Switches and Crossings", International Journal of Railway Technology, 1(2), 45-66, 2012. doi:10.4203/ijrt.1.2.3
Abstract
The wheel-rail contact condition highly influences both the dynamics of the wheel-set and the location and severity of rail surface damage. A methodology for predicting long-term damage accumulation requires an accurate solution to the wheel-rail geometric and elastic contact problem. Complex rail geometries, as found within railway switches and crossings, require a sophisticated contact detection procedure to account for the general state of the wheel-set. A new contact detection algorithm accounting multi-point contact condition is presented and validated against established contact detection models and direct observations using thermal imaging technology. Wear depth and rolling contact fatigue are predicted using approximate contact stress theories, Archard's wear model and the wear damage index.

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