Development and validation of a wheel wear and rolling contact fatigue damage model

This paper summaries the development of a damage model to predict the deterioration rates of the wheel tread in terms of wear and rolling contact fatigue (RCF) damage. The model uses a description of a fleetʹs route diagram to characterise the duty cycle of the vehicle in terms of curve radius, cant deficiency and traction/braking performance. Using this duty cycle a large number of vehicle dynamics simulations are automatically conducted to calculate wheel–rail contact forces and predict the formation of wear and RCF damage, using a combination of the Archard and frictional energy-based (Tγ) damage models.