Development of An Effective Inspection and Maintenance Strategy based on Rolling Contact Surface Crack Propagation Analysis
No Thumbnail Available
Date
2017
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Addis Ababa University
Abstract
The issue of railway rail damage can‟t be seen easily and it requires attention and researching
because most railway accidents are caused by the wheel/rail damage. The aim of this paper is
to develop an effective inspection and maintenance strategy based on rolling contact surfaces
crack propagation analyse. This will help to prevent the occurrence of rail failure by taking
the required action at the right time, and extend the rail life expectancy, reduce the rail
maintenance work and its cost.
The frequency of rail inspection tends to vary from one railroad to another, yet it is usually
based on either time or traffic tonnage. Railroad companies have evolved their rail inspection
schedules empirically based on long field experience. Rail defect management refers to the
development and implementation of strategies to control the risk of rail failure. The primary
method to control the risk is a rail inspection through non-destructive evaluation and, is a
replacement of rails based on the remedial action plan.
This work has undertaken the study of fatigue cracks in rails using Finite element method
(FEM) modelling and analytical solutions to provide rail inspectors for the quick assessment
of the severity of surface breaking and embedded cracks in rails. The work does investigate
crack propagation phenomena on the heads of rails.
Based on the analysis results, the mechanism for remedial action is developed based on
critical crack size at rail head, to help infrastructure manager‟s decision. Then, effective
number of rail inspection frequency is determined as three times a year to prevent the
occurrence of rail failure by taking the required action at the right time, and extend the rail
life expectancy, reduce the rail maintenance work and its cost. Finally, appropriate rail
inspection and maintenance strategy model (flowchart) is adopted for Ethiopian railway
industry.
Description
Keywords
Finite element method, linear elastic fracture mechanics, stress intensity factor, inspection, maintenance strategy