Determination of rail corrugation maintenance limit based on axle box acceleration spectrum defined in IEC61373

Rail corrugation can cause the vibration fatigue failure of the bogie, especially in the metro vehicle. Whereas the existing maintenance limit of rail corrugation is mainly based on operating safety and wheel-rail noise emission and neglects the vibration fatigue failure problems arising from the rail corrugation. It is thus desirable to develop a maintenance limit for rail corrugation from the vibration fatigue failure point of view. Considering that the axle box acceleration spectrum defined in IEC 61373 serves as a basic input for the evaluation of the vibration fatigue life of the bogie, the axle box acceleration thus can be taken as a basic boundary condition for the high-frequency vibration of wheel-rail. This paper thus developed a methodology to determine the maintenance limit based on the axle box acceleration spectrum and the transfer function of the wheel-rail system. In this method, the transfer function was identified by the measured rail corrugation and axle box acceleration. Subsequently, the maintenance limit was derived by the axle box acceleration spectrum defined in IEC 61373 together with the transfer function. The newly developed maintenance limit is considered more reliable to suppress the vibration fatigue failure of the bogie arising from the rail corrugation.

Automated summary

This paper develops a methodology to determine a maintenance limit for rail corrugation from the perspective of vibration fatigue failure, using the axle box acceleration spectrum and the transfer function of the wheel-rail system. The newly developed maintenance limit is considered more reliable in suppressing the vibration fatigue failure of the bogie.