A study on dynamic stress intensity factors of rail cracks at high speeds by a 3D explicit finite element model of rolling contact.pdfVIP

Wear 366-367 (2016) 60–70 Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Wear journal homepage: /locate/wear A study on dynamic stress intensity factors of rail cracks at high speeds by a 3D explicit ?nite element model of rolling contact Xin Zhao n, Xiaogang Zhao, Chao Liu, Zefeng Wen, Xuesong Jin State Key Laboratory of Traction Power, Southwest Jiaotong University, Chengdu 610031, China article info Article history: Received 2 October 2015 Received in revised form 2 May 2016 Accepted 1 June 2016 Available online 8 June 2016 Keywords: Wheel–rail rolling contact Rolling contact fatigue Dynamic stress intensity factors Explicit ?nite element method abstract A 3D explicit ?nite element model has been developed with ANSYS/Ls-dyna to study the dynamic interaction between a wheelset and a cracked rail at high speeds. Two contact pairs are separately de?ned in the wheel–rail interface and between the crack faces, for which Coulombs law of friction is implemented. By incorporating a self-developed program, the dynamic stress intensity factors (SIFs) at the crack tip are calculated from the dynamic solutions using the virtual crack closure technique. As the ?rst step, this work investigates the vertical rail crack being perpendicular to the contact surface. Signi?cant difference between the dynamic and the static contact solutions illustrates that the cracking behavior is essentially a dynamic phenomenon, and the moving Hertzian loading usually assumed in the literature is not strictly valid. It is further found that the vertical cracks are completely closed during the wheel passage, resulting in the absence of SIF KI along the crack tip, and larger KII with respect to KIII. A parameter variation analysis con?rms that the traction effort and the lubrication on crack faces can signi?cantly enhance the potential of crack propagation, while the rolling speed is found to have negligible in?uence under the assumption of linear elastic material. Considering the minimum fracture tough