Effect of wear on stress intensity factor of rail steel using numerical modeling

Train and rail is one of the most common methods of transportation in the world, which its extensive use reveals the need for research in this field. The purpose of this paper is to analyze the influence of periodic overloads and the phenomenon of wear on contact fatigue crack on railways simultaneously. For this purpose, a UIC60 rail with accurate geometry using numerical method is studied. In this regard, at first a three-dimensional elastic-plastic finite element model (FEM) in ANSYS/PDS tool is provided. The maximum stress caused by wheel/rail contact for a new/worn wheel profiles S1002 was obtained using such model. Then, using boundary element method (BEM) in Franc-3D software, during stress analysis for different situations of wheel, different values of stress intensity factors are obtained. Two characteristics of fatigue crack propagation such as growth and along the development of cracking are calculated by means of stress intensity factors. Comparison of the results showed that the effect of wear on the fatigue life is remarkable, and cannot be ignored.

کلیدواژه ها:

Wear ، Stress intensity factor ، Boundary element method ، Crack ، Rail.