Wheel wear comparison between motor car and trailer of intercity train

To analyze wheel wear discrepancy between motor car and trailer of an intercity train, a novel wheel wear rates calculation model was proposed, which was composed of the intercity train dynamics model, wheel-rail three-dimensional rolling contact FEM model and the wear model. The simulated results were contrasted with measured results in field test. The simulated results showed the motor car wheels had larger rotation rate and longitudinal creepage than the trailer wheels. Meanwhile, the motor car wheels encountered larger vertical forces and longitudinal forces from bogie because of the heavier car body and the impact of traction torque. The traction torque acting on motor car wheel could increase the slip rates in the rear part of wheel contact patch and weaken the spinning phenomenon of relative slip. Larger contact pressure and slip rates caused the higher wear rates of motor car wheel than those of trailer wheel. The overall trends of wheel wear depth in simulated and tested results were similar. And they both showed the motor car wheel encountered the more serious wear than the trailer wheel. These models can be used to study the effect of the traction characteristics curves on the wear of wheel.