Numerical and Experiment Analysis of the Effect of Curve Radius on Rail Wear and Rail Failure

The creepage forces, stick/slip areas of contact particles and friction work of wheel/rail in static condition were analyzed by means of numerical methods. The effect of curve radius on rolling wear behavior of rail was investiagted by simulation experiment. The numerical and experimental results indicated that with the decreasing curve radius, the wear of rail increased nonlinearly, especially when the curve radius was less than 1200m, the wear of rail increased rapidly with the decreasing curve radius. And with the increasing curve radius, the most slippage decreased gradually, and the stick areas decreased while the slip areas increased. The friction work of wheel/rail decreased nonlinearly with increasing curve radius. The results offered a reference for researching wear of wheel-rail and investigation the lifetime of rail.