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Abstract

Rails are manufactured from bloom by hot rolling. Subsequently, they are cooled to ambient temperature. At the end of the cooling process, the rails bend almost in the form of circular ares. They are then straightened in the roller-straightening machine. Knowledge of the shape of the bent rail and the magnitude of residual stress at the end of the cooling process is useful for proper computation of the straightness and residual stress in the rails after the straightening operation. The present paper describes a simulated model developed for the investigation of the behaviour of the rail during the entire cooling process. The analysis has been carried out as a decoupled thermomechanical transient problem using the general-purpose finite element software ANSYS. Histories of the temperature distribution and deformation of the rail have been obtained by the method. The results are in good agreement with the observed behaviour of the rails in the real-life environment. The model has also evaluated the generated residual stress distribution.

Keywords

rail manufacturing cooling rail camber thermal stress residual stress

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Rail behaviour during cooling after hot rolling

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