Infrared temperature measurement of wheel-rail frictional rolling contact with high slip ratios

Thermal loading from wheel-rail frictional heat accelerates wear, plastic deformation, and fatigue, especially at high contact temperatures. Accurate wheel-rail contact temperature measurements, especially under operational conditions, are essential to understand and prevent thermal damage. Existing...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Chunyan He, Pan Zhang, Zhen Yang, Rolf Dollevoet, Zili Li
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Elsevier 2025-09-01
Series:Case Studies in Thermal Engineering
Subjects:
Online Access:http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2214157X25009025
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
_version_ 1849702585108267008
author Chunyan He
Pan Zhang
Zhen Yang
Rolf Dollevoet
Zili Li
author_facet Chunyan He
Pan Zhang
Zhen Yang
Rolf Dollevoet
Zili Li
author_sort Chunyan He
collection DOAJ
description Thermal loading from wheel-rail frictional heat accelerates wear, plastic deformation, and fatigue, especially at high contact temperatures. Accurate wheel-rail contact temperature measurements, especially under operational conditions, are essential to understand and prevent thermal damage. Existing studies have mostly focused on lower temperatures (below 200 °C), leaving higher, damage-causing temperatures underexplored. To address this limitation, this work utilizes a unique V-Track test rig and a novel high-precision infrared thermal measurement system to generate and continuously measure the high temperatures (maximum 1200 °C) induced by wheel-rail dynamic contact. A wheel braking process was simulated by applying a controllable negative wheel torque, generating slip ratios from 2 % to 99 %. Emissivity calibration of the V-Track rail samples was conducted to ensure measurement accuracy. Test results revealed that the wheel-rail contact temperature generally rose with slip ratios, reaching up to 1000 °C at a slip ratio of 99 %. At a slip ratio of 40 %, a “wheel flat” formed with a contact temperature of approximately 624 °C, followed by a rapid drop as the “wheel flat” exited the contact area. This advanced testing system is capable of both generating and precisely measuring high temperatures at the rolling interface, offering insights into thermal damage mechanisms and demonstrating the potential for calibrating and validating thermal contact and damage numerical models.
format Article
id doaj-art-5b44ca5eec37406b93da3a2b58057096
institution DOAJ
issn 2214-157X
language English
publishDate 2025-09-01
publisher Elsevier
record_format Article
series Case Studies in Thermal Engineering
spelling doaj-art-5b44ca5eec37406b93da3a2b580570962025-08-20T03:17:35ZengElsevierCase Studies in Thermal Engineering2214-157X2025-09-017310664210.1016/j.csite.2025.106642Infrared temperature measurement of wheel-rail frictional rolling contact with high slip ratiosChunyan He0Pan Zhang1Zhen Yang2Rolf Dollevoet3Zili Li4Delft University of Technology, Section of Railway Engineering, Stevinweg 1, 2628 CN, Delft, the NetherlandsCorresponding author.; Delft University of Technology, Section of Railway Engineering, Stevinweg 1, 2628 CN, Delft, the NetherlandsDelft University of Technology, Section of Railway Engineering, Stevinweg 1, 2628 CN, Delft, the NetherlandsDelft University of Technology, Section of Railway Engineering, Stevinweg 1, 2628 CN, Delft, the NetherlandsDelft University of Technology, Section of Railway Engineering, Stevinweg 1, 2628 CN, Delft, the NetherlandsThermal loading from wheel-rail frictional heat accelerates wear, plastic deformation, and fatigue, especially at high contact temperatures. Accurate wheel-rail contact temperature measurements, especially under operational conditions, are essential to understand and prevent thermal damage. Existing studies have mostly focused on lower temperatures (below 200 °C), leaving higher, damage-causing temperatures underexplored. To address this limitation, this work utilizes a unique V-Track test rig and a novel high-precision infrared thermal measurement system to generate and continuously measure the high temperatures (maximum 1200 °C) induced by wheel-rail dynamic contact. A wheel braking process was simulated by applying a controllable negative wheel torque, generating slip ratios from 2 % to 99 %. Emissivity calibration of the V-Track rail samples was conducted to ensure measurement accuracy. Test results revealed that the wheel-rail contact temperature generally rose with slip ratios, reaching up to 1000 °C at a slip ratio of 99 %. At a slip ratio of 40 %, a “wheel flat” formed with a contact temperature of approximately 624 °C, followed by a rapid drop as the “wheel flat” exited the contact area. This advanced testing system is capable of both generating and precisely measuring high temperatures at the rolling interface, offering insights into thermal damage mechanisms and demonstrating the potential for calibrating and validating thermal contact and damage numerical models.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2214157X25009025Temperature measurementWheel-rail frictional rolling contactHigh-precision infrared thermal cameraSlip ratiosThermal effectV-track test rig
spellingShingle Chunyan He
Pan Zhang
Zhen Yang
Rolf Dollevoet
Zili Li
Infrared temperature measurement of wheel-rail frictional rolling contact with high slip ratios
Case Studies in Thermal Engineering
Temperature measurement
Wheel-rail frictional rolling contact
High-precision infrared thermal camera
Slip ratios
Thermal effect
V-track test rig
title Infrared temperature measurement of wheel-rail frictional rolling contact with high slip ratios
title_full Infrared temperature measurement of wheel-rail frictional rolling contact with high slip ratios
title_fullStr Infrared temperature measurement of wheel-rail frictional rolling contact with high slip ratios
title_full_unstemmed Infrared temperature measurement of wheel-rail frictional rolling contact with high slip ratios
title_short Infrared temperature measurement of wheel-rail frictional rolling contact with high slip ratios
title_sort infrared temperature measurement of wheel rail frictional rolling contact with high slip ratios
topic Temperature measurement
Wheel-rail frictional rolling contact
High-precision infrared thermal camera
Slip ratios
Thermal effect
V-track test rig
url http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2214157X25009025
work_keys_str_mv AT chunyanhe infraredtemperaturemeasurementofwheelrailfrictionalrollingcontactwithhighslipratios
AT panzhang infraredtemperaturemeasurementofwheelrailfrictionalrollingcontactwithhighslipratios
AT zhenyang infraredtemperaturemeasurementofwheelrailfrictionalrollingcontactwithhighslipratios
AT rolfdollevoet infraredtemperaturemeasurementofwheelrailfrictionalrollingcontactwithhighslipratios
AT zilili infraredtemperaturemeasurementofwheelrailfrictionalrollingcontactwithhighslipratios