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Rolling contact fatigue generates cracks on the running surface of high strength railway rails which grow under a small angle into the rail head. These cracks can cause in its last stage the fracturing of the rail. The crack extension behaviour is – as the origin of these cracks too – influenced by the cold working of the rail steel. The crack growth in the first stage is fracture mechanically analyzed by means of two-dimensional modelling. The simulation results are assessed for the use of rail grinding. A criterion for the change of the crack growth direction could not be derived, but the following stages of the crack growth in the transverse direction and the final fracture and the conditions for secondary fractures are considered. Rolling contact fatigue generates cracks on the running surface of high strength railway rails which grow under a small angle into the rail head. These cracks can cause in its last stage the fracturing of the rail. The crack extension behaviour is – as the origin of these cracks too – influenced by the cold working of the rail steel. The crack growth in the first stage is fracture mechanically analyzed by means of two-dimensional modelling. The simulation results are assessed for the use of rail grinding. A criterion for the change of the crack growth direction could not be derived, but the following stages of the crack growth in the transverse direction and the final fracture and the conditions for secondary fractures are considered.
Reusable solid wheels manufactured of the old steel BV1 (nearly equivalent to the solid or monobloc wheel steel R1 according to the new nomenclature) show in some cases rolling defects on the surface of the wheel disc. The fatigue behaviour of such defects is analysed by means of the linear-elastic fracture mechanics and Monte Carlo simulation and assessed to be able to derive the allowable defect size for the non-destructive testing. This paper was firstly presented at the Second International Symposium on Fatigue Design FD’95, held in Helsinki (Finland) on 5 – 8 September 1995. The complete research report is published under the title „Oberflächendefekte im Scheibenbereich” (Manufacturing surface defects in the disc area of solid wheels). The research work was sponsored by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG).
Rail defects: an overview
(2003)
For about 150 years, the steel rail has been at the very heart of the world's railway systems. The rail works in a harsh environment and, as part of the track structure, it has little redundancy; thus, its failure may lead to catastrophic derailment of vehicles, the consequences of which can include death, injury, costs and loss of public confidence. These can have devastating and long-lasting effects on the industry. Despite the advances being made in railway permanent way engineering, inspection and rail-making technology, continually increasing service demands have resulted in rail failure continuing to be a substantial economic burden and a threat to the safe operation of virtually every railway in the world. This paper presents an overview of rail defects and their consequences from the earliest days of railways to the present day.
Despite substantial advantages in material development and in periodic non-destructive inspection together with periodic grinding and other measures in order to guarantee safe service, fatigue crack propagation and fracture is still in great demand as emphasised by the present special issue. Rails, as the heart of the railway system, are subjected to very high service loads and harsh environmental conditions. Since any potential rail breakage includes the risk of catastrophic derailment of vehicles, it is of paramount interest to avoid such a scenario. The aim of the present paper is to introduce the most important questions regarding crack propagation and fracture of rails. These include the loading conditions: contact forces from the wheel and thermal stresses due to restrained elongation of continuously welded rails together with residual stresses from manufacturing and welding in the field, which is discussed in Section 2. Section 3 provides an overview of crack-type rail defects and potential failure scenarios. Finally the stages of crack propagation from initiation up to final breakage are discussed.