Application of Semi-Hertzian Approach to Predict the Dynamic Behavior of Railway Vehicles Through a Wear Evolution Model

Wear prediction due to the wheel-rail interaction in a railway vehicle has a significant role in the view of running stability (critical speed), dynamic performance and maintenance scheduling. In this article, we have focused on the estimation of wear distribution on the wheel profile through co-simulation between the vehicle and the wear evolution models, built in the multi-body simulation (MBS) software ADAMS (VI-Rail) and MATLAB environments, respectively. As the shape of the contact patches varies from elliptical to non-elliptical depending upon the contact patch location on the rail and the wheel, the contact forces/stresses are calculated by using a combined formulation of semi-Hertzian approach with modified FASTSIM. The wear distribution is obtained using Archard's wear model. The wheel profiles are updated after calculating the wear depth for a particular distance travelled by the vehicle. The dynamic behavior of the vehicle with the worn wheel profile is utilized to predict additional wear during a further fixed distance of travel and this profile updating and dynamic simulation process is repeated. The vehicle's dynamic performance and passenger comfort are evaluated for various levels of wheel wear.