Assessment of lifetime of railway axle

Main laws of influence of stress ratio on fatigue crack growth rate in the material of railway axles were revealed and statistical distributions of characteristics of cyclic crack’s resistance for steel were determined.The technique of modelling of fatigue crack growth in the material of railway axle under regular and random loading was developed, taking into account statistical characteristics of mechanical properties. It gives the ability to obtain statistical distribution of final crack depth for the given number of loading cycles and the distribution of lifetime for the given before final crack depth.

► Stress intensity factor for commuter train axle was calculated by the finite element method.
► Main laws of stress ratio influence on fatigue crack growth rate were revealed.
► Probabilistic analysis of axle’s lifetime with an initial defect was performed.
► Distribution functions for final crack depth in axle after 106 cycles of block loading were obtained.