Installation position determination of wind speed sensors on steel pole along a high-speed railway

In order to consider the influence of steel pole on the measurement of wind speed sensors and determinate the installation position of wind speed sensors, the flow field around wind speed sensors was investigated. Based on the three-dimensional steady Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes equations and k-ε double equations turbulent model, the field flow around the wind speed sensor and the steel pole along a high-speed railway was simulated on an unstructured grid. The grid-independent validation was conducted and the accuracy of the present numerical simulation method was validated by experiments and simulations carried out by previous researchers. Results show that the steel pole has a significant influence on the measurement results of wind speed sensors. As the distance between two wind speed sensors is varied from 0.3 to 1.0 m, the impact angles are less than ±20°, it is proposed that the distance between two wind speed sensors is 0.8 m at least, and the interval between wind speed sensors and the steel pole is more than 1.0 m with the sensors located on the upstream side.

Parametric analysis of wheel wear in high-speed vehicles

In order to reduce the wheel profile wear of highspeed trains and extend the service life of wheels, a dynamic model for a high-speed vehicle was set up, in which the wheelset was regarded as flexible body, and the actual measured track irregularities and line conditions were considered. The wear depth of the wheel profile was calculated by the well-known Archard wear law. Through this model, the influence of the wheel profile, primary suspension stiffness, track gage, and rail cant on the wear of wheel profile were studied through multiple iterafive calculations. Numerical simulation results show that the type XP55 wheel profile has the smallest cumulative wear depth, and the type LM wheel profile has the largest wear depth. To reduce the wear of the wheel profile, the equivalent conicity of the wheel should not be too large or too small. On the other hand, a small primary vertical stiffness, a track gage around 1,435-1,438 mm, and a rail cant around 1：35-1：40 are beneficial for dynamic performance improvement and wheel wear alleviation.

Modelling of temperature and strain rate dependent behaviour of pearlitic steel in block braked railway wheels

Block braked railway wheels are subjected to thermal and rolling contact loading.The thermal loading results in high temperatures and thermal stresses which cause slow time dependent processes such as creep,relaxation and static recovery of the wheel material.At the same time,the rolling contact loading implies a very fast mechanical load application.This paper is focused on material modeling of pearlitic steel for a wide range of loading rates at elevated temperatures.The starting point is a viscoplasticity model including nonlinear isotropic and kinematic hardening.The Delobelle overstress function is employed to capture strain rate dependent response of the material.The model also includes static recovery of the hardening to capture slower viscous(diffusion dominated)behaviour of the material.Experiments for the pearlitic wheel steel ER7 in terms of cyclic strain-controlled uniaxial tests with hold-time,uniaxial ratchetting tests including rapid cycles and biaxial cyclic tests with tension/compression and torsion are used to calibrate the material model.These experiments were performed under isothermal conditions at different temperatures.In the ratchetting tests,higher loading rates are obtained and these have been used to calibrate the high strain rate response of the viscoplasticity model.The paper is concluded with a numerical example of a block braked wheel where the importance of accounting for the viscoplasticity in modelling is highlighted.

Effect of cerium on the cleanliness of spring steel used in fastener of high-speed railway

The effects of Ce addition on the quantity, size, distribution of inclusions and the content of oxygen, sulfur and other hazardous residual elements in spring steel used as fastener in high speed railway were investigated by metallographic examination, SEM-EDS and composition analysis. The results indicated that the contents of oxygen decreased with the addition of Ce （[Ce]〈0.1%） and the content of sulfur continually decreased with increasing content of Ce （[Ce]〈1.2%）. However, with the further increase of Ce element addition, the content of [O] and T[O] began to increase. The content of Ce corresponding to the lowest [O] and T[O] lied in the range of 0.10%-0.13%and 0.045%-0.065%, respectively. The addition of Ce in spring steel resulted in the formation of rare earth oxides/oxysulfides and decreased the size of inclusions to less than 3μm in globular or spheroid shape. Moreover, the residual harmful elements （As, P, Pb and Sn） were found to exist in the Ce-containing inclusions, which had proved that the Ce addition could capture the residual elements and suppress their precipitation behaviors in the grain boundary.

Numerical investigation on wheel-turnout rail dynamic interaction excited by wheel diameter difference in high-speed railway

The wheel-rail relationship in turnout is more complicated than that in ordinary track. Profile wear and machining errors of the wheelset cause deviations Of the rolling radius on different wheels. Therefore, wheelsets move to the direction of smaller diameter wheels in search of a new stable state and to change the condition before entering the turnout. Thc main aim of the present work is to examine the wheel-turnout rail dynamic interaction combined with the static contact behaviour. Calculations are performed on a high-speed vehicle CRH2 and the No. 12 turnout of the passenger dedicated line. The wheel-turnout contac! geometric relationship and normal contact behaviour under wheel diameter difference are assessed by the trace principle and finite element method. A high-speed vehicle-turnout coupling dynamic model is established based on SIMPACK software to analyse the wheel-rail dynamic interaction, riding comfort, and wear. Both the wheel diameter amplitudes and distribution patterns are accounted for. The simulation shows that wheel diameter difference can greatly disturb the positions＇ variation of wheel-rail contact points and affect the normal contact behaviour on switch rails by changing the load transition position. The effect of wheel diameter diffierence on wheel-turnout rail dynamic interaction can be divided into three according to its amplitude： when the wheel diameter difference is within 0-1.5 mm, the wheel flange comes into contact with the switch rail in advance, causing a rapidly increased lateral wheel-rail force; when it is within 1.5 2.5 mm, trains are subject to instability under equivalent in-phase wheel diameter difference; when it is larger than 2.5 mm, the continuous flange-switch rail contact helps strengthen the vehicle stability, but increases the wheel-rail wear. It is recommended to control the wheel diameter difference to within 2.5 mm but limit it to 2 mm if it is distributed in-phase.

Effect of wheelset flexibility on wheel–rail contact behavior and a specific coupling of wheel–rail contact to flexible wheelset

The fexibility of a train＇s wheelset can have a large effect on vehicle–track dynamic responses in the medium to high frequency range.To investigate the effects of wheelset bending and axial deformation of the wheel web,a specifi coupling of wheel–rail contact with a fexible wheelset is presented and integrated into a conventional vehicle–track dynamic system model.Both conventional and the proposed dynamic system models are used to carry out numerical analyses on the effects of wheelset bending and axial deformation of the wheel web on wheel–rail rolling contact behaviors.Excitations with various irregularities and speeds were considered.The irregularities included measured track irregularity and harmonic irregularities with two different wavelengths.The speeds ranged from 200 to400km/h.The results show that the proposed model can characterize the effects of fexible wheelset deformation on the wheel–rail rolling contact behavior very well.

Effect of Nb addition on microstructure and mechanical properties of 25CrNiMoV(DZ2)steel for high-speed railway axles

The microstructure,precipitates and properties of 25CrNiMoV(DZ2)steel for high-speed railway axles with different Nb contents were investigated by means of optical microscopy,scanning electron microscopy,electron back-scattering diffraction,transmission electron microscopy and physicochemical phase analysis.The results show that the grain size of the original austenite of the test steels decreases from 20.5 to 14.2 and 10.8μm after adding 0.026 and 0.039 wt.%Nb to a 25CrNiMoV steel,respectively.Moreover,the block width of the tempered martensite in the test steels is refined from 1.91 to 1.72 and 1.60µm,respectively.MC-type precipitates in 25CrNiMoV steel are mainly VC,while(Nb,V)C gradually precipitates when Nb is microalloyed,and the amount of precipitates increases with increasing Nb content.Through strengthening mechanism analysis,it is found that grain refinement strengthening is the primary way to increase the strength.The improvement in the yield strength with increasing Nb content is attributed to a significant increase in precipitation strengthening,grain refinement strengthening and dislocation strengthening.

Smart elasto-magneto-electric (EME) sensors for stress monitoring of steel structures in railway infrastructures

Steel structures are widely used in railway infrastructures.Their stress state is the most important determinant of the safety of these structures.The elasto-magnetic (EM) sensor is the most promising for stress monitoring of in-service steel structures.Nevertheless,the necessity of magnetic excitation to saturation due to the use of a secondary coil for signal detection,keeps from its engineering application.In this paper,a smart elasto-magneto-electric (EME) sensor using magneto-electric (ME) sensing units to take the place of the secondary coil has been exploited for the first time.The ME sensing unit is made of ME laminated composites,which has an ultrahigh ME voltage coefficient and can measure the magnetic induction simply and precisely.Theoretical analysis and characterization experiments firstly conducted on the ME laminated composites showed that the ME sensing units can be applied in the EM sensor for improved performance in stress monitoring.A tension test of a steel bar was carried out to characterize our smart EME sensor and the results showed high accuracy and sensitivity.The present smart EME sensor is a promising tool for stress monitoring of steel structures in railway and other civil infrastructures.

Effect of Sulfur Contents on Fracture Toughness of Wheel Steels for High Speed Train

The effect of different contents of S on fracture toughness of railway wheel steels for high speed train has been researched.The results show that there are kinds of non-metallic inclusion when O content retaining at about 10×10-6,such as Al 2 O 3 inclusions and Al 2 O 3 +MnS complex inclusions and single MnS inclusions.This is connected with S content level in steel.Fracture toughness of railway steel increase obviously because of Al 2 O 3 covered by MnS around when S content is increase to about 70×10-6.It shows that,after Al 2 O 3 covering by MnS around,stresses around complex inclusion decrease rapidly till disappear when analyzed by tessellated stresses theory.That is the reason of fracture toughness rise.