Railway axles are among critical components ensuring safe and efficient train operations. They are particularly susceptible to damage mechanisms such as fretting wear and fatigue. Fretting induced by high contact pressure and microslip between contact surface can significantly deteriorate fatigue strength at the contact edge of the press-fit section. Recent research has been conducted to enhance axle strength and reliability. However, fretting wear or microcrack formation at the wheel-press-fit zone of axles is still an active area of investigation. Accurately analyzing fretting wear is challenging due to its sensitivity to numerous factors such as changes in friction coefficient, influence of wear particles, and selection of an appropriate wear model. This paper aimed to establish a comprehensive analysis method for fretting wear in interference-fitted axles using finite element analysis (FEA) and numerical analysis techniques. Two wear models were applied in simulations: an Archard wear model and an energy-based wear model. Analysis results were compared with experimental data from rotating bending fatigue press-fit specimens. This comparison will help validate the proposed analysis method and assess the effectiveness and accuracy of different wear models in predicting fretting wear in press-fit axles.

The service conditions of railway cars have become more difficult in recent years due to increased speed. Faulty components in the railcars may result in service interruption, or in extreme cases, derailment. Thus, it is important to diagnose and monitor the main components of railcars. Temperature monitoring is one of the basic methods used to diagnose abnormal conditions in the main components of railway cars, such as in bearings, reduction gears, and traction motors. In this study, we developed a monitoring system for the main components, using an infrared thermography technique. This technique has the advantage of infrared thermal camera imaging of temperature contours in the components. Various hardware and software components of the monitoring system are used to acquire the sensor data, to identify poential problems in railcar operation.

Rails are subjected to damage from rolling contact fatigue, which leads to defects such as cracks. Rolling contact fatigue damages on the surface of rail such as head check, squats are one of growing problems. Another form of rail surface damage, known as “Ballast imprint” has become apparent. This form of damage is associated with ballast particles becoming trapped between the wheel and the surface of rail. These defects are still one of the key reasons for rail maintenance and replacement. In this study, we have investigated whether the ballast imprint is an initiator of head check type cracks and effect of defect size using Finite element analysis. The FE analysis were used to investigate stresses and strains in subsurface of defects according to variation of defect size. Based on loading cycles obtained from FE analysis, fatigue analysis for each point was carried out.

Because most fatigue cracks in wheel and rail take place by rolling contact of wheel and rail in railroad industry, it is critical to understand the rolling contact phenomena, especially for the three-dimensional situation. This paper presents an approach to steady-state rolling contact problem of three-dimensional contact bodies, with or without tangential force, based on the finite element method. The steady-state conditions are controlled by the applied relative slip and tangential force. The three-dimensional distribution of tangential traction and contact stresses on the contact surface are investigated. Results show that the distribution of tangential traction and contact stresses on the contact surface varies rapidly as a result of the variation of stick-slip region. The tangential traction is very close in form to Carter’s distribution.

In this paper, the characteristics of contact surface damage due to fretting in a press-fitted shaft below the fretting fatigue limit are proposed by experimental methods. A series of fatigue tests and interrupted fatigue tests of small scale press-fitted specimen were carried out by using rotating bending fatigue test machine. Macroscopic and microscopic characteristics were examined using scanning electron microscope (SEM), optical microscope or profilometer. It is found that fretting fatigue cracks were initiated even under the fretting fatigue limit on the pressfitted shafts by fretting damage. The fatigue cracks of press-fitted shafts were initiated from the edge of contact surface and propagated inward in a semi-elliptical shape. Furthermore, the fretting wear rates at the contact edge are increased rapidly at the initial stage of total fatigue life. After steep increasing, the increase of wear rate is nearly constant under the load condition below the fretting fatigue limit. It is thus suggested that the fretting wear must be considered on the fatigue life evaluation because the fatigue crack nucleation and propagation process is strongly related to the evolution of surface profile by fretting wear in the press-fitted structures.