Reducing rail side wear on heavy-haul railway curves based on wheel–rail dynamic interaction

Abstract

This article investigates an optimisation strategy for the design of rail-grinding profiles to be used on heavy-haul railway curves, aiming to reduce the rail side wear on curves. A design methodology of rail asymmetric-grinding profiles is put forward based on the principle of low wheel–rail dynamic interaction. The implementing procedure is illustrated in detail. As a case study, the rail asymmetric-grinding profiles were designed for a curve with 600 m radius on Chinese Shuohuang heavy-haul railway. The characteristics of wheel–rail contact geometry and wheel–rail dynamic interaction were analysed and compared between the original standard rail profiles and the designed rail-grinding profiles. The rails on a test curve were ground according to the designed profiles. Before and after rail grinding, both the wheel–rail dynamics indexes and the rail side wear were measured in the field. The theoretical and experimental results show that the wheel–rail dynamic interaction is clearly improved and the rail side wear is alleviated by 30–40% after rail grinding, which validates the effectiveness of the design methodology of rail asymmetric-grinding profiles on curves.

Keywords:

• rail side wear
• heavy-haul railway
• curve
• rail profile design
• rail asymmetric grinding
• vehicle–track coupled dynamics

Acknowledgements

The authors appreciate the great support from Shuohuang Railway Development Company for setting up the test section of asymmetrically grinding the rail profiles on a curve. This research was supported by the Scientific Research and Development Program of China Railway Corporation [grant 2013J012-A] and by the Scientific Discipline Development Project of Southwest Jiaotong University (2012).