Wheel-rail wear investigation on a balloon loop track through simulation of slow speed wagon dynamics

Heavy haul railway infrastructure is commonly equipped with balloon loops to allow trains to be loaded/unloaded and/or to reverse the direction of travel. The slow operational speed of trains on these sharp curves results in some unique issues regarding the wear process between wheels and rails. A wagon dynamic system model has been applied to simulate its dynamic behaviors in order to study the wear conditions between the rail/wheel interfaces. Meanwhile, the effects of some important parameters – curve radius, wagon speed and track cant on the wheel-rail contact wear have also been carried out.