Effect of hollow-worn wheels on the evolution of rail wear

Abstract A non-uniform rail wear prediction model is developed to analyse the influence of hollow-worn wheels on rail wear. The rail wear prediction model considers the combination of vehicle-track coupled dynamics model, Kalker's variational method, and the material wear model developed by the University of Sheffield, together with a new sampling and accumulation strategy. Taking into account the track random irregularity, the rail wear distribution for particular cross-sections at regular intervals and its effect on wheel-rail dynamic interaction are investigated using a high-speed vehicle with different tread hollow–worn wheels that run on a tangent track. The simulation results indicate that hollow-worn wheels will give rise to noteworthy change on the non-uniform rail wear distribution, cause a significant increase in rail wear and have a distinct effect on the wheel-rail interaction.