THE EFFECT OF THRESHOLD VALUE ON THE RESIDUAL FATIGUE LIFETIME OF RAILWAY AXLES

The fatigue failure of railway axles could have unaccepted consequences. Because of safe operation, it is important to determine the residual fatigue lifetime. The railway axle could contain some cracks either from manufacturing process or from previous service operation. Present defectoscopy can reliably detect only relatively long cracks (longer than 2 mm), see [1]. In other words, there is a risk that the existing crack is not detected by defectoscopy. For conservative establishment of the residual fatigue lifetime the crack, which could be not detected by defectoscopy, must be considered. This paper deals with an effect of the threshold value of fatigue crack propagation on the residual fatigue lifetime of railway axles. Two very commonly used materials for railway axles EA1N and EA4T steels are considered. The results of this paper could be used for safer operation of railway axles