Comparative analysis of wheel‒rail frictional temperature rise using moving heat source and thermo-mechanical coupling methods at various wheel‒rail creepages

Abstract

A finite element (FE) model of wheel‒rail frictional heating with moving heat source is proposed in this paper for estimating the wheel‒rail contact temperature distributions under repeated long-term operation. To calculate the temperature rise in wheel‒rail friction, this study compares the computational accuracy and efficiency of the temperature field generated by the moving heat source method and the thermo-mechanical coupling method. A three-dimensional transient wheel‒rail rolling contact thermo-mechanical coupling finite element model is established using ANSYS/LSDYNA software. The moving heat source method is conducted through ANSYS transient thermal analysis with a time step of 2.57 × 10⁻⁵ s, meeting the thermal analysis requirements. Taking into account the influence of complex operating conditions and the third medium between the wheel and rail, this study compares and analyzes the two methods under different wheel–rail creepage conditions. The following conclusions were drawn: as creepages increase, the wheel tread surface temperature increases approximately linearly, with the temperature calculated by the moving heat source method being larger. The temperature difference between the two methods gradually increases, and the maximum temperature value difference is 4.9%, which is less than 5%. The moving heat source approach can save approximately 20 times the computational time. Considering both calculation time and efficiency, the moving heat source method can be employed as an alternative to the three-dimensional transient wheel‒rail rolling contact thermo-mechanical coupling finite element method. This study provides theoretical support and a finite element model reference for the calculation of wheel‒rail friction temperature rise.