Rail wear on the curve of a heavy haul line-Numerical simulations and comparison with field measurements

A numerical procedure for the simulation of rail profile wear is proposed and applied to a heavy-haul line in China. The procedure includes a coupling dynamics model of the freight vehicle and track, a Non-Hertzian contact model, and a material wear model. Freight vehicles equipped with different types of three-piece bogies are considered in the dynamics model. The track is considered as a 3-layer model with rails, sleepers and ballast masses. Each rail of the track is modeled with a Timoshenko beam on discrete sleepers. A moving sleeper support model is developed to simulate the effect of the periodical discrete sleepers on the vehicle/track interaction. Kalker׳s non-Hertzian contact model is modified as the post-calculation for the local contact analysis. The wear depth in the contact patch is based on Archard׳s model. Extensive field measurements of the wheel/rail profile have been carried out on the curves of the Shuohuang heavy-haul line. Comparisons between simulated and measured rail profiles have been conducted. The shapes of the worn rail profiles of the simulation broadly agree with the field measurements.