Fatigue Failure on Railway Axle

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Date

2017-06

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Publisher

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

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