Reproducing rolling contact fatigue relevant loading conditions of railway operation on a test rig

ABSTRACT For the development of rail materials with improved properties regarding rolling contact fatigue and wear, it is at first important to know and understand the loading conditions in railway operation. Based on the loading conditions, crack initiation can be predicted. This has been done by a local analysis of the wheel/rail contact conditions with the so-called wedge model. This model takes the plastic shear deformation condition in a layer near the rail surface into account. Results for a specific railway operation scenario and test rig experiments are analysed to demonstrate how such different scenarios can be compared. The work contributes to the understanding of the transferability of test rig results to the behaviour in the field. GRAPHICAL ABSTRACT