Recent advances in wheel–rail RCF and wear testing

The wear and rolling contact fatigue (RCF) testing approaches for wheels and rails have been reviewedand evaluated in this study. The study points out the advantages and limitations of the existing approaches. Thebroad analysis revealed that scaled laboratory-based wear testing is widely applied. However, it is necessary topredetermine the input parameters and observing parameters for scaled wear testing for three reasons: first, toemulate the real-world scenarios as closely as possible;second, to postprocess the results received from the scaledtesting and transfer them into real practice at full scale;third, to present the results in a legible/appropriate format.Therefore, most of the important parameters required for wear testing have been discussed with fundamental andsystematic explanations provided. Additionally, the transition of the parameters from the real-world into the testdomain is explained. This study also elaborates on the challenges of the RCF and wear testing processes andconcludes by providing major considerations toward successful testing.