Development of surface topography for the rail–wheel contact

We investigate the development of surface topography of two solids in a high-pressure frictional contact, like the rail–wheel contact. The friction process is simulated with the method of Movable Cellular Automata. It is shown that a quasi-fluid layer develops that influences the change of the surface topography and shows stochastic vertical migration. The resulting surfaces are analysed and the corresponding power spectra calculated. We further present a model that describes the basic processes in the quasi-fluid layer, like plastic deformation, detachment of wear particles and their reintegration and calculate the resulting time-dependent power spectra numerically and analytically.