Effects of wheel tread hollow wear on wheel-rail adhesion under wet condition

This study investigates high-speed wheel-rail adhesion characteristics under wet condition with measured wheel tread hollow wear. A vehicle-track coupled dynamics model were integrated to simulate wheel-rail interactions. Dynamic parameters including creepages and contact point traces were input into the adhesion model, which utilizes elastohydrodynamic lubrication model and the extended creep force model to precisely calculate normal and tangential pressure. Results reveal that fluid pressure emerges between two contact patches during two-point contact. Average adhesion coefficients minimize during two-to-single contact transitions but recover in stable single-point conditions. The shakedown map indicates that the wheel-rail rolling contact remains within the elastic shakedown state or below under high-speed wet condition, while Archard-based wear analysis revealed two-point contact conditions induces severer wear than single-point conditions.