Keywords: rolling contact fatigue, rail cracks, fracture mechanics, finite element model, damage prediction, crack propagation.

Railway infrastructure is increasingly subjected to higher loads and traffic intensities, leading to degradation mechanisms such as wear and rolling contact fatigue (RCF). Existing damage prediction models, such as the Whole Life Rail Model (WLRM), rely heavily on empirical field data and lack general applicability across varying operational conditions. This paper presents a numerical fracture mechanics-based framework to reconstruct the RCF component of the WLRM. The approach separates fatigue crack formation into crack initiation and propagation, with emphasis on propagation modelled using Extended Finite Element Method (XFEM). Stress Intensity Factors (SIFs) are computed under moving wheel loads, enabling prediction of crack growth rates via Paris-law-based formulations. The resulting damage indices are used to reconstruct RCF curves and analyze the influence of key operational parameters, including axle load, friction coefficient, rail curvature, and train speed.

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