Adhesion between rail/wheel under water lubricated contact

This paper describes the behavior of adhesion coefficient, i.e. the maximum traction coefficient in the rolling direction between rail and wheel under a water lubricated condition for various values of rolling speed, slip ratio, contact load, surface roughness and water temperature by means of a simplified theory. The adhesion coefficient has been analyzed here by combining the elasto-hydrodynamic lubrication (EHL) theory and the contact theory of rough surfaces. The results show that the adhesion coefficient is greatly influenced by the water temperature and asperities height of rough surface. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.