Effect of Wheel Structure on Friction-Induced Wheel Polygonal Wear of High-Speed Train

Abstract

Aiming at the inconsistent design standards of China’s high-speed railway, the effect of wheel structure on friction-induced wheel polygonal wear is studied. A finite element model is established that consists of two rails, one wheelset, and three brake units. The motion stability of the system is studied through complex eigenvalue analysis. According to the mode analysis, the unstable vibration induced by the disc brake may be the cause of wheel polygonal wear. Furthermore, the parameter sensitivity analysis shows that the web plate shape has a significant effect on suppressing the wheel polygonal wear. Moreover, the sensitivity of the system with different wheel web plate–to–wheel diameter values differs. When the value of the wheel diameter increases from 860 to 920 mm in the wheel–rail–disc brake system with an oblique web plate, the effective damping ratio of unstable vibration changes significantly. In addition, the occurrence of polygonal wear increases with an increase in the tread wear depth.

Keywords:

• Wheel polygonal wear
• wheel structure
• friction-induced self-excited vibration
• numerical simulation

Additional information

Funding

The authors are grateful for financial support from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 51775461).