Study on the influence of wheel inertia and longitudinal/lateral creep force on the corrugated wear on the metro curved track

Abstract

Corrugated wear on the metro curved track was studied. Dynamic analysis was implemented to analyze the effects of the vehicle speed and the curve radius on the wheel-rail creep forces. A mixed Lagrangian/Eulerian description-based finite element model of a wheel/rail system was set up. The wheel inertia can be considered in this model. Moreover, the steady rolling of the wheel under different creepage for braking or traction can be simulated. The complex eigenvalue analysis is used to investigate the frequency-domain characteristics of the friction-induced vibration of the wheel/rail system under the steady-state curving of the wheel. The initiation of the corrugation under the friction-induced vibration of the wheel/rail system was studied. The effects of the creep forces in the longitudinal and lateral directions on the friction-induced vibration of the wheel/rail system were revealed. The results show the dominant cause of the corrugation on the low rail surface is the friction-induced vibration of the wheel/rail system at about 320 Hz. The friction-induced vibration on the side of the high rail is not easy to occur. Therefore, the corrugated wear hardly happens to the high rail. The corrugated wear caused by the friction-induced vibration is frequency-fixed. It is necessary to consider the wheel inertia in the study of the friction-induced vibration of the wheel/rail system. Without considering wheel inertia, missing prediction of the friction-induced vibration and overestimation of the occurrence probability and development speed of the corrugation may occur. The lateral creep force plays a leading role in the friction-induced vibration of the wheel/rail system, while the longitudinal creep force has little effect on the friction-induced vibration. The corrugated wear will become more serious as the curve radius becomes smaller.