Cracks around railway wheel flats exposed to rolling contact loads and residual stresses

Railway wheel cracks exposed to rolling contact loads and residual stresses are numerically investigated. The cracks originate from wheel flats as induced by wheel/rail sliding. Stress intensity factors in modes I, II and III are studied assuming linear elastic conditions (state of shakedown). A recently developed influence function method, based on Betti's reciprocity theorem, is applied. In the examples, realistic data from the field are used. It is found that the calculated stress intensity factors in general are lower in a 3D model than in a 2D model. The stress intensity factors in modes II and III are much larger than in mode I, for which the crack closes when the load passes. (C) 2004 Elsevier B.V All rights reserved.