Hand operated tribometer versus twin disc dry friction characteristics measurements

Accurate friction-slip modelling is particularly important for locomotive traction and rail damage studies. This paper compares hand operated (HO) tribometer and a twin-disc tribomachine friction-slip measurements on AS60 rail. The results were used to calibrate friction-slip curves using the Modified Fastsim creep force calculation model. The differences between the two friction measuring instruments including scale, speed, and rail cleaning effect influenced the maximum friction coefficient and slip value at which the friction peak occurred. The proposed equalisation technique was able to match the HO tribometer friction-slip curve with the tribomachine curve while preserving most of the Modified Fastsim model parameters.