Influence of Rail Grinding on Wheel-Rail Contact Relationship in General Speed Railway

Based on the measured wheel profile of general speed railway, the wheel profile with representative wear characteristics was selected. The rail grinding target profiles of straight and curved lines were designed by using personalized rail grinding target profile design methods. Based on the multi-body dynamics software SIMPACK, the dynamic models of passenger and freight trains were established. The influence of rail profile after grinding on wheel-rail contact relationship and vehicle dynamic performances on straight and curve sections was studied and verified by field tests. Results show that: after grinding according to the optimized rail profile, the width of the rail light band in the straight section is about 30 mm; the wheel-rail contact points are concentrated in the area near the rail top center; both the vehicle running stability and lateral stability are significantly improved. The distribution of wheel-rail contact position on the high rail of curve section is more reasonable; the wheel-rail contact probability on the rail side is reduced with the wheel-rail attack angle being reduced by 4.2%~ 5.4%, the longitudinal creep rate being reduced by 49.3%~ 50.3% and the rail side wear rate being reduced by 32%~ 65%. Field test results are basically consistent with simulation results, which shows that the rail service life can be effectively extended by optimizing and grinding the rail profile. © 2020, Editorial Department of China Railway Science. All right reserved.