Development and validation of a model for predicting wheel wear in high-speed trains

In this paper, we present a comprehensive model for the prediction of the evolution of high-speed train wheel profiles due to wear. The model consists of four modules: a multi-body model implemented with the commercial multi-body software SIMPACK to evaluate the dynamic response of the vehicle and track; a local contact model based on Hertzian theory and a novel method, named FaStrip (Sichani et al., 2016), to calculate the normal and tangential forces, respectively; a wear model proposed by the University of Sheffield (known as the USFD wear function) to estimate the amount of material removed and its distribution along the wheel profile; and a smoothing and updating strategy. A simulation of the wheel wear of the high-speed train CRH3 in service on the Wuhan-Guangzhou railway line was performed. A virtual railway line based on the statistics of the line was used to represent the entire real track. The model was validated using the wheel wear data of the CRH3 operating on the Wuhan- Guangzhou line, monitored by the authors’ research group. The results of the predictions and measurements were in good agreement.