The Influence of Wheel/Rail Contact Conditions on the Microstructure and Hardness of Railway Wheels
Figure 3
Distribution of contact conditions across a wheel profile for leading (a) and trailing (b) axle. The y axis shows the Von Mises equivalent stress (based on the average stress for each contact patch). Contours indicate the prevalence of contacts under each condition, with darker shades of grey representing a higher percentage of contacts, such as the frequent contacts in the centre of the tread at low stress. Higher stresses occur in other locations across the wheel profile when leading, but these are less frequent. On the trailing wheelset, the stress cycles are mostly in the running band (Region D) and with moderate stress levels. Approximately half the cycles on a given wheelset are experienced when it is leading the bogie, and half when it is the trailing wheelset.
