This article describes the wheel—rail interface management (WRIM) model being developed by Transportation Technology Center Inc. to evaluate wheel—rail interface conditions, plan wheel—rail maintenance, and develop strategies to improve railway system performance. The WRIM software integrates wheel—rail profile measurement data, vehicle performance data, track geometry data, and rail steel properties to predict rail wear and rolling contact fatigue (RCF) based on the shakedown theory, an energy-based RCF damage function, and existing wear rate computation algorithms.
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