Calculation Schemes for Determining Contact Stresses in Railway Rails

One of the tasks of ensuring the safe and sustainable operation of railway transport is to assess the life cycle of the railway track and its elements—in particular, rails. It is known that the main cause of their failure is the development of defects that arise as a result of contact of rails with...

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Main Authors: Valerii Kosarchuk, Volodymyr Tverdomed, Olha Bambura
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: MDPI AG 2025-03-01
Series:Applied Sciences
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3417/15/6/2970
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author Valerii Kosarchuk
Volodymyr Tverdomed
Olha Bambura
author_facet Valerii Kosarchuk
Volodymyr Tverdomed
Olha Bambura
author_sort Valerii Kosarchuk
collection DOAJ
description One of the tasks of ensuring the safe and sustainable operation of railway transport is to assess the life cycle of the railway track and its elements—in particular, rails. It is known that the main cause of their failure is the development of defects that arise as a result of contact of rails with the wheels of rolling stock—contact fatigue defects. Modern approaches to predicting the contact-fatigue endurance of railway rails and wheels of rolling stock are based on the use of the kinetic theory of damage. The basis of such predictions is the calculation of the stress–strain state of rails under the action of combinations of external force and temperature influences, which is associated with the need to solve spatial boundary value problems of contact interaction. The complexity of such problems necessitates the use of numerical methods, such as the finite element method in particular, for their solution. This paper considers the features of constructing calculation schemes for such problems. Attention is primarily paid to assessing the influence of some design parameters of the rail track and wheels on the magnitude and distribution of stresses in the contact zone. The results will be useful for understanding the physical processes of damage accumulation, the occurrence and development of defects in rails and wheels, as well as for developing methods for predicting the contact fatigue endurance of important elements of railway infrastructure.
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spelling doaj-art-8562f7adf6eb4172bcece2ac6c7008dd2025-08-20T02:42:45ZengMDPI AGApplied Sciences2076-34172025-03-01156297010.3390/app15062970Calculation Schemes for Determining Contact Stresses in Railway RailsValerii Kosarchuk0Volodymyr Tverdomed1Olha Bambura2Department of Mechanical Engineering and Digital Technologies, State University of Infrastructure and Technologies, 9 Kyrylivska Str., 04071 Kyiv, UkraineDepartment of Railway Track and Track Management, State University of Infrastructure and Technologies, 9 Kyrylivska Str., 04071 Kyiv, UkraineDepartment of Mechanical Engineering and Digital Technologies, State University of Infrastructure and Technologies, 9 Kyrylivska Str., 04071 Kyiv, UkraineOne of the tasks of ensuring the safe and sustainable operation of railway transport is to assess the life cycle of the railway track and its elements—in particular, rails. It is known that the main cause of their failure is the development of defects that arise as a result of contact of rails with the wheels of rolling stock—contact fatigue defects. Modern approaches to predicting the contact-fatigue endurance of railway rails and wheels of rolling stock are based on the use of the kinetic theory of damage. The basis of such predictions is the calculation of the stress–strain state of rails under the action of combinations of external force and temperature influences, which is associated with the need to solve spatial boundary value problems of contact interaction. The complexity of such problems necessitates the use of numerical methods, such as the finite element method in particular, for their solution. This paper considers the features of constructing calculation schemes for such problems. Attention is primarily paid to assessing the influence of some design parameters of the rail track and wheels on the magnitude and distribution of stresses in the contact zone. The results will be useful for understanding the physical processes of damage accumulation, the occurrence and development of defects in rails and wheels, as well as for developing methods for predicting the contact fatigue endurance of important elements of railway infrastructure.https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3417/15/6/2970railway rails and wheelscontact stressescontact-fatigue defectsfinite element method
spellingShingle Valerii Kosarchuk
Volodymyr Tverdomed
Olha Bambura
Calculation Schemes for Determining Contact Stresses in Railway Rails
Applied Sciences
railway rails and wheels
contact stresses
contact-fatigue defects
finite element method
title Calculation Schemes for Determining Contact Stresses in Railway Rails
title_full Calculation Schemes for Determining Contact Stresses in Railway Rails
title_fullStr Calculation Schemes for Determining Contact Stresses in Railway Rails
title_full_unstemmed Calculation Schemes for Determining Contact Stresses in Railway Rails
title_short Calculation Schemes for Determining Contact Stresses in Railway Rails
title_sort calculation schemes for determining contact stresses in railway rails
topic railway rails and wheels
contact stresses
contact-fatigue defects
finite element method
url https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3417/15/6/2970
work_keys_str_mv AT valeriikosarchuk calculationschemesfordeterminingcontactstressesinrailwayrails
AT volodymyrtverdomed calculationschemesfordeterminingcontactstressesinrailwayrails
AT olhabambura calculationschemesfordeterminingcontactstressesinrailwayrails