Wear characteristics and prediction of wheel profiles in high-speed trains

Wheel/rail relationship is a fundamental problem of railway system. Wear of wheel profiles has great effect on vehicle performance. Thus, it is important not just for the analysis of wear characteristics but for its prediction. Actual wheel profiles of the high-speed trains on service were measured in the high-speed line and the wear characteristics were analyzed which came to the following results. The wear location was centralized from −15 mm to 25 mm. The maximum wear value appeared at the area of 5 mm from tread center far from wheel flange and it was less than 1.5 mm. Then, wheel wear was fitted to get the polynomial functions on different locations and operation mileages. A binary numerical prediction model was raised to predict wheel wear. The prediction model was proved by vehicle system dynamics and wheel/rail contact geometry. The results show that the prediction model can reflect wear characteristics of measured profiles and vehicle performances.