Numerical investigation on stress intensity factor in railway wheel-set under the influence of residual stresses induced by press fitting process

Train and railway system is one the most common transportation methods in the world. The vast application of railway transportation make it very important to research in this field and improve the knowledge about such system. According to advancements in railway technology, a new type of train wheels named as rim-wheels are presented in recent years that their fracture is studied in this research. The aim of the present paper is to investigate stress intensity factors in railway wheels for some major parts. The study also includes a survey on the effect of crack length on crack propagation as one of its main effective factors. Stress intensity values are calculated after stress analysis for different wheel positions by boundary element method. Fatigue crack growth path is calculated and its propagation is also estimated and effect of different parameters is studied on fatigue crack growth and path.