Determination of Residual Stresses in Rails

PDFTech ReportDOT-TSC-FRA-81-21DOT/FRA/ORD-83/05DOT-TSC-1426RR219/R2309Rail (Railroads)Residual stressSpecimensFatigue (Mechanics)United StatesUnited States. Federal Railroad AdministrationGroom, J. J.Battelle Memorial Institute. Columbus LaboratoriesJohn A. Volpe National Transportation Systems Center, (U.S.)United States. Federal Railroad Administration. Office of Research and DevelopmentAGR-INFRASTRUCTURE-RailroadsNTL-RAIL TRANSPORTATION-Rail SafetyNTL-RAIL TRANSPORTATION-RAIL TRANSPORTATIONNTL-SAFETY AND SECURITY-Rail SafetyNTL-SAFETY AND SECURITY-SAFETY AND SECURITYVolpe National Transportation Systems Center, Technical Reference CenterA destructive sectioning technique for measuring the complete three-dimensional residual stresses in a rail cross section was developed. The technique was applied to four tangent rail specimens: two 136-pound specimens were taken from FAST (Facility for Accelerated Service Testing), Pueblo, Colorado [83 and 270 MGT (million gross tons)] and two 132-pound specimens were obtained from revenue service (100 and 300 MGT). The results show that: 1) high compressive stresses exist in and near the tread surface of the rail, particularly near the edges of the wear pattern where the plastic flow of metal is extreme; 2) high tensile stresses are found just below the tread surface with peak stresses near the edges of the tread wear pattern; and 3) for the traffic ranges examined (83 to 300 MGT), the tensile stresses internal to the rail head increased with increasing MGT