Wear of railway wheel profiles: a comparison between experimental results and a mathematical model

The paper presents the results of experimental and numerical investigations on regular wear of wheel profiles. Experimental tests were performed on a full-scale roller rig and allowed to measure the evolution of wheel profiles as well as contact forces and several quantities describing the motion of the wheelset. As to the numerical investigations, a wear prediction model was developed, based on the interfacing of a multi-body simulation code for rail vehicle dynamics, of a local contact analysis model and of a material wear model that assumes a proportionality relationship between wear and frictional power. The validation of this model by comparisons with the measurement performed on the roller rig is still in progress. Some preliminary results are shown in this paper