Numerical simulation of rail profiles evolution in the switch panel of a railway turnout

In order to simulate the rail profiles evolution in the switch panel of a railway turnout, the simulation of vehicle-turnout dynamic interaction, the wheel-rail rolling contact model and rail material wear model are integrated as a numerical simulation tool for rail wear of the switch panel in this paper. A multi-body dynamical model of the CRH2 Chinese high speed vehicle is created using Simpack software, with turnout model is based on the standard CN60-1100-1:18 turnout design for high speed railway. To reproduce the actual operating conditions of railway turnouts, the dynamic simulation also takes account of stochastic variations in input data. The rolling contact between wheel and rail is modelled using a semi-Hertzian method and an improved FASTSIM algorithm. The distribution of contact stresses and relative motions of each unit in the contact patches are obtained through rolling contact calculations; these are then used to predict the wear on rails caused simultaneously by the vehicle׳s multiple wheels, based on Archard׳s wear model. Rail profiles at several positions along the longitudinal dimension of the turnout are simulated for non-uniform wear. The numerical methodology is applied to predict the evolution of rail profiles as the vehicle switches into the turnout track in a diverging movement. The shapes of the worn rail profiles obtained via simulation are then compared with field measurements, and the effectiveness of the wear prediction methodology is thereby validated.