Numerical and experimental investigation on adhesion characteristic of wheel/rail under the third body condition

A numerical model of wheel and rail lubricated by a third body was established using the partial elasto-hydrodynamic lubrication theory and multi-grid method. The effects of rolling speed, surface roughness, contact load, wheel diameter, and viscosity of third body on adhesion coefficient are explored. The results show that the rolling speed, surface roughness, and the viscosity of third body have a significant influence on adhesion coefficient when the wheel/rail interface is lubricated under oil and water conditions. Furthermore, to verify the precision of the numerical calculating results, some experiments were carried out by means of a JD-1 wheel/rail simulation facility. The results show that there is same changing trend and almost same adhesion coefficient between the curves of numerical and experimental results. The relative difference between the numerical and experimental results is less than 10%. This numerical method can be used to explore the adhesion coefficient of wheel/rail under the third body condition.