Analysis of rail corrugation deterioration behavior on a heavy-haul railway

Rail corrugation is a common form of rail damage discovered when servicing heavy-haul railways that seriously affects the safety of wheel–rail systems. To determine the characteristics of the deterioration of a corrugated heavy-haul railway, this study used ABAQUS simulation software to establish a three-dimensional elastic–plastic wheel–rail finite element model. We then simulated the stress and strain distributions of wheel–rail contact spots as C80 freight cars pass through various corrugated sections of heavy-haul railways, featuring different wavelengths and wave depths. The simulation results demonstrated that the stress and strain increase from the peak positions to the troughs, reaching a maximum somewhere behind the troughs, and then decreasing to the next peak. The stress and strain increase as the depth of corrugation increases. The wheel–rail contact exhibits a maximum stress of 1.312 to 1.770 GPa, and the maximum strain is 0.6470% to 0.9897%. Wheel–rail contact stress and strain occur at a maximum of 8–40 mm after the troughs, rather than at the trough position, forming “planing and rolling” effects. This mechanism revealed by the variation in the stress and strain distributions in this study provides a reference for the in-depth analysis of rail corrugation deterioration and for the exploration of the mechanisms of corrugation deterioration of heavy-haul railways.