Wheel-rail low adhesion issues and its effect on wheel-rail material damage at high speed under different interfacial contaminations

The objective of this paper is to ascertain the wheel-rail low adhesion mechanism using a high-speed wheel-rail rolling contact test rig under different interfacial contaminations. Based on the experimental results, a numerical method was proposed to investigate the wheel-rail wear and rolling contact fatigue due to low adhesion issues. The experimental results indicated that the wheel-rail low adhesion phenomena can happen under interfacial liquid contaminations, especially at high-speed running condition. Preliminary numerical investigations showed that the low adhesion condition can easily lead to sliding hence serious wear, especially at the speed between 160 km/h and 200 km/h. The temperature rise within the contact patch can be significantly more severe once wheel and rail are in full slip, causing rolling contact fatigue due to material softening.