NUMERICAL ANALYSIS OF ROLLING CONTACT FATIGUE CRACK GROWTH ON CURVED RAILWAY TRACKS

In this study, numerical analyses were conducted to investigate the non-proportional mixed-mode RCF crack growth behaviour in the presence of severe longitudinal, lateral and spin creepages. The whole procedure combined multi-body dynamic simulation (MBDS) and the extended finite element method (XFEM) in an indirectly coupled way. Attempts were also made to modify the FaStrip theory to obtain traction distributions based on elastoplastic contact pressures which were then applied in an XFEM model to predict surface crack growth directions. Parametric studies were also conducted to further quantify the influence of different creepage combinations on both crack growth directions at rail surface and crack growth rate at crack tips. It is concluded that the increase of either of the three creepages can significantly influence the phase and magnitude of stress intensity factor histories, albeit to different extents.
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