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M. Rettl, A. Tarasov, M. Löbl, W. Daves, "Numerical Analysis of Wheel/Rail Profile Pairings with Elastic and Plastic Material Behavior", in J. Pombo, (Editor), "Proceedings of the Seventh International Conference on Railway Technology: Research, Development and Maintenance ", Civil-Comp Press, Edinburgh, UK, Online volume: CCC 15, Paper 3.17, 2026, doi:10.4203/ccc.15.3.17

Keywords: wheel–rail contact, finite element simulation, contact mechanics, wheel profiles, rail profiles, rail inclination, lateral wheel displacement.

Abstract

To avoid excessive wear, reduce the probability of defects, and consequently reduce maintenance costs for rails and wheels, it is crucial to use rail and wheel profiles that fit together. But, rail configurations differ from country to country and the goal of an integrated European railway area requires trains to travel through different countries. This often makes it impossible, to use optimal rail/wheel pairings. Research has already been conducted to investigate such suboptimal rail/wheel pairings assuming an elastic material behavior. However, real steels will often be plastified during rolling contact. Therefore, this work considers the plastic material behavior of rails. The profile pairings are investigated using full scale explicit finite element simulations of a wheel rolling over a rail. The lateral position of the wheel is varied and all eight combinations of the wheel profiles S1002 and EPS with the rail profiles 60E1 and 60E2 and rail inclinations of 1/20 and 1/40 are investigated. It is shown that simulations using an elastic material model overestimate the contact pressure in most regions by not more than 30% compared to simulations using an elastic-plastic material model.

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Front Page Browse CCC CCP CSETS CTR IJRT Other Authors Search Purchase Guide FAQ Contact us	Civil-Comp Conferences ISSN 2753-3239 CCC: 15 PROCEEDINGS OF THE SEVENTH INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON RAILWAY TECHNOLOGY: RESEARCH, DEVELOPMENT AND MAINTENANCE Edited by: J. Pombo Paper 3.17 Numerical Analysis of Wheel/Rail Profile Pairings with Elastic and Plastic Material Behavior M. Rettl¹, A. Tarasov^2,1, M. Löbl^2,1 and W. Daves¹ ¹Department of Simulation, Materials Center Leoben Forschung GmbH, Austria ²Chair of Mechanics, Technical University of Leoben, Austria doi:10.4203/ccc.15.3.17 Full Bibliographic Reference for this paper M. Rettl, A. Tarasov, M. Löbl, W. Daves, "Numerical Analysis of Wheel/Rail Profile Pairings with Elastic and Plastic Material Behavior", in J. Pombo, (Editor), "Proceedings of the Seventh International Conference on Railway Technology: Research, Development and Maintenance ", Civil-Comp Press, Edinburgh, UK, Online volume: CCC 15, Paper 3.17, 2026, doi:10.4203/ccc.15.3.17 Keywords: wheel–rail contact, finite element simulation, contact mechanics, wheel profiles, rail profiles, rail inclination, lateral wheel displacement. Abstract To avoid excessive wear, reduce the probability of defects, and consequently reduce maintenance costs for rails and wheels, it is crucial to use rail and wheel profiles that fit together. But, rail configurations differ from country to country and the goal of an integrated European railway area requires trains to travel through different countries. This often makes it impossible, to use optimal rail/wheel pairings. Research has already been conducted to investigate such suboptimal rail/wheel pairings assuming an elastic material behavior. However, real steels will often be plastified during rolling contact. Therefore, this work considers the plastic material behavior of rails. The profile pairings are investigated using full scale explicit finite element simulations of a wheel rolling over a rail. The lateral position of the wheel is varied and all eight combinations of the wheel profiles S1002 and EPS with the rail profiles 60E1 and 60E2 and rail inclinations of 1/20 and 1/40 are investigated. It is shown that simulations using an elastic material model overestimate the contact pressure in most regions by not more than 30% compared to simulations using an elastic-plastic material model. download the full-text of this paper (PDF, 10 pages, 927 Kb) go to the previous paper go to the next paper return to the table of contents return to the volume description
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