Experimental and numerical modelling of wheel-rail contact and wear

► When two rough surfaces are pressed together, the load is supported by the asperities in contact. ► When a kinematic state is prescribed, the contact patch is divided into adhesion and slip regions. For a real contact, those regions appear fragmented. ► The wear pattern obtained from the fragmented areas of contact is different than the one obtained from the methods used typically in wheel-rail contact. ► The use of experimental data is useful to understand the mechanisms involved in the contact of rough surfaces and wear.