Fatigue Failure on Railway Axle
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Date
2017-06
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Addis Ababa University
Abstract
The purpose of the axle is one of the most important components of a rail vehicle which
transmits the weight of the vehicle to the wheels, meets the vertical and horizontal loads
formed during static and dynamic moving, and carries the driving moment and braking
moment, since it is subjected to rotating bending and the issue of fatigue failure always exist
.The main objective of this thesis is to one investigation of fatigue failure in railway front
axle using finite element analysis. One of the most loaded axle locomotives are driving axles,
which are subjected to simultaneous bending and twisting (while driving – especially during
acceleration and braking) and the same bending (when stationary). Fatigue failures start at
the most vulnerable point in a dynamically stressed area particularly where there is a stress
raiser (discontinuities or change in diameter). Investigation and analyzing manually is
tedious. Hence FEM is very accurate to analyzing and designing. FEM shows the most
critical part of the axle to analyze the failures and also has available fatigue tool. Modeling
of railway front axle to study fatigue failure under different loads using CATIA & ANSYS
software is done. In addition parametric study to investigate the effect of loading condition
in axles, estimation of fatigue life in working condition in railway front axle by finite element
method using ANSYS Workbench software. By using FE M and numerical analysis the
critical part of load that cause failure is investigated. Endurance limit, fatigue factor of safety
and the theoretical no of cycles sustained by the axle before failure is estimated. In
conclusion the increase in fillet radii of the axle and change in the position of the support
decreases the stress concentration factor, increase the endurance limit and fatigue factor of
safety of the axle.
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Keywords
Axle, Fatigue, ANSYS, stress concentration, railway vehicle axle bending