Research on causes and countermeasures of wheel polygon wear based on Kik-Piotrowiski contact model

Abstract

In order to study the wheel polygon wear problems in high-speed trains, an iterative model of wheel wear was established based on $1)$ the train-track rigid-flexible coupling dynamics model, $2)$ Kik-Piotrowiski + Fastsim wheel-rail contact model, and $3)$ Archard wear model to predict the developing process of wheel polygon. Taking a certain type of high-speed train in China as an example, the developing process of the 20-order wheel polygon is simulated. Compared with the Hertz model, the results of the Kik-Piotrowiski model are more consistent with the actual situation, and the prediction of the wheel polygon is more accurate. The results show that with the increase of vehicle running speed, the dominant order of the final wheel polygon decreases gradually, while the excitation frequency always locates between 550 and 600 Hz, which verifies the ‘frequency fixed’ mechanism. By comparing the development of wheel polygon wear results under three working conditions $1)$ flexible wheelset + flexible rail, $2)$ rigid wheelset + flexible rail, and $3)$ flexible wheelset + rigid rail), and by analysing the harmonic response of rail, it is concluded that the third-order bending modal vibration of rail plays an important role in the forming of wheel polygon. .

KEYWORDS:

• Wheel polygonal wear
• coupling dynamic model
• long-term wear iterative model
• wheel-rail contact

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by NSFC high speed railway joint fund: [Grant Number U1734201]; Project of science and technology research and development plan of China National Railway Group Co., Ltd: [Grant Number N2018G044].