Power dissipation modeling in wheel/rail contact: Effect of friction coefficient and profile quality

This work investigates the power dissipation in a wheel/rail system through friction work modeling. In order to identify the effect of the friction coefficient on the power dissipation in the wheel/rail contact, several simulations were performed using a three-dimensional multibody model of a railway vehicle implemented in the software package VI-Rail Adams. The power dissipation and wear rates of the inner and outer wheels of the first bogie of the vehicle running over a curve of a metro line were calculated for different friction coefficients varying from 0.2 to 0.7. The total frictional work was obtained from the resultant force and slip in a reference point. The wear was also analyzed according to the Tγ method including the spin, in combination with Kalker׳s simplified theory Fastsim, assuming that the wear is proportional to the frictional work. Two sets of rail and wheel profiles were studied in order to determine the effect of the profile׳s quality on the power dissipation and wear rates. To this end simulations and power calculations were performed with a friction coefficient of 0.4.