Impact of wheel diameter on the wear and fatigue of heavy-haul railway wheels

Abstract

Several methods to optimize the center of gravity have been studied. However, less attention has been given to the effect of wheel diameter on dynamic responses. This paper investigates the impact of wheel diameter on the performance of freight wagons, focusing on wear and fatigue analysis under different wheel sizes. Dynamic simulations were conducted, maintaining consistent load mass and bogie type, while varying wheel diameters. Wear was simulated using Archard’s law, and fatigue was analyzed using finite element modeling employing the Dang Van criterion. The findings show that a decrease in wheel radius can lead to up to 56% reduction in Tγ. Wear depth increases by 20% on the tread as flange wear decreases with smaller wheel radii; however, a 27% reduction in tread wear depth occurred in the absence of flange contact, resulting from a more evenly distributed wear pattern due to an expanded transverse wear area. The fatigue index remained negative for all cases, indicating a low probability of Rolling Contact Fatigue. In addition, the fatigue analysis shows a reduction in maximum Dang Van stress, associated with a deeper crack initiation point, as the radius reduces, extending crack initiation life. Reducing the wheel radius extended the crack initiation life by 174.3%, allowing the wheel to travel 2.74 times the distance of the standard baseline wheel before crack initiation.