Quantification of the influence of rolling stock failures on track deterioration

Abstract

AbstractThis study focuses on the quantification of the influence of rolling stock failures (RSFs) on railway infrastructure. Taking the wheel flat, a common RSF, as an example, we introduce four quantification indexes to evaluate the influence on the following four deterioration mechanisms: track settlement (TS), track component fatigue (TCF), abrasive wear (AW), and rolling contact fatigue (RCF). Our results indicate that TS, TCF, and AW increase sharply with the increase of the wheel flat length and the vehicle speed, and this increasing trend becomes more acute with the increase of the wheel flat length and the vehicle speed. At low speeds, RCF increases gradually as the wheel flat length increases; at high speeds, it increases sharply at first and then decreases gradually. The influence of the wheel flat on TCF and AW is the most obvious, followed by TS and RCF. These findings can help infrastructure managers (IMs) to better understand infrastructure conditions related to RSFs and can aid them in managing problems with vehicle abnormality in track access charging.