Investigation into the Root Causes of Rolling （调查的根源）.pdfVIP

Challenge C: Increasing freight capacity and services Investigation into the Root Causes of Rolling Contact Fatigue under Heavy Axle Loads Harry Tournay and Huimin Wu Transportation Technology Center, Inc. Pueblo, Colorado, USA. ABSTRACT The incidence of high impact wheels (HIW) is currently a primary cause for wheel removals in North America. Wheel replacement costs for North American railway systems are in excess of $800 million annually, with tread damage amounting to approximately two-thirds of this figure. HIW are attributed to two causes: (1) thermal mechanical shelling (TMS), which is a form of rolling contact fatigue (RCF), and (2) the traditionally known operational problem of unreleased handbrakes. TMS is about 50 percent of this figure and can thus be directly related to at least $270 million in maintenance costs. Rail grinding continues to be a high cost component of track maintenance with costs in excess of $100 million per year. Grinding is used to restore rail profiles altered as a result of wear and material flow as well as to remove surface crack and spalls; all these defects are attributable to RCF. Consequently, the Association of American Railroads, through their Strategic Research Program, has initiated a project to establish the root causes for RCF under heavy axle load (HAL) conditions. Through this program, the root causes for TMS in wheels have been established, and the means to mitigate TMS are being developed (improved suspensions, brakes, wheels, and top-of-rail (TOR) friction control). These means require an accurate assessment of the resistance of wheel materials to RCF under vertical and lateral loads and temper