iceWEAR - Wheel wear of locomotives under extreme winter conditions
| Projektname: | iceWEAR - Wheel wear of locomotives under extreme winter conditions |
| Contact: | Dipl.-Ing. Sten Urban |
| Objective target: | Develop theses for wear processes in the wheel-rail contact under winter conditions and develop an approach for the simulation and experimental studies |
Besides the energy consumption and the traction effort of railway vehicles, the re-profiling rate of the wheels are a key factor for the life cycle costs (LCC) of the vehicle. Especially for locomotives in cargo operations with a high traction load per wheel and under extreme winter conditions, a significant higher wheel wear is observed in practice. In this process wear as major damage factor centers the stage, which results from the contact conditions with different temperatures of the contact partners and various ice phases in the contact zone. In the last years, the fatigue of the wheel tread (Rolling Contact Fatigue-RCF) under such conditions was object of scientific research. In this work the observed wear has reached a magnitude where the material is removed before it fatigues. Thus the reduction of the wear rate to an insufficient level raises the risk for RCF under these climate conditions significantly.
Process in wheel/rail contact in winter conditions
In praxis the goals for the re-profiling costs are achieved by striving for the right compromise between wear and RCF. For this purpose exact knowledge about the local contact conditions and the processes in the wheel-rail contact zone are necessary. For the investigation of the particular process in the contact zone a simulation is required, which is able to calculate the normal and tangential contact, the temperature field and the fluid-structural interaction between wheel and rail at low temperatures under presence of snow and ice. To find such a simulation approach and formulate theses for the higher wear are main topics of the project iceWEAR.
| Current status: | Theses for the wheel wear are formulated. Requirements for simulation and experimental arrangements are established and placed in the state of the art context. On this basis a concept for experimental investigations and an approach for the simulation were developed. Resulting problems for implementation are currently being investigated. |
| Duration: | 01/2012-12/2015 |
| Funding/partner: | BOMBARDIER TRANSPORTATION, Germany and Switzerland |
Publications:
- Sten Urban, Alexander Heghmanns, Michael Beitelschmidt: „Realistic Estimation of the Wheel Wear of Railway Traction Vehicles”, SIMPACK User Meeting 2014, October 08-09, 2014, Augsburg
- Sten Urban, Michael Beitelschmidt: “Simulation of ice under mechanical and thermal load”, PAMM-Proceedings of Applied Mathematics and Mechanics, Vol. 15, November 2015, Accepted
- Sten Urban, Bernhard Peters, Michael Beitelschmidt: “Simulation approach for wheel wear of locomotives under winter conditions”, IAVSD – 24th International Symposium on Dynamics of Vehicles on Road and Tracks, Graz/Austria, August 17-21, 2015, Abstract Accepted