Wheel-rail contact wear analysis on curved lubricated track for heavy haul locomotive studies

The effect of lubrications on a curved track to heavy-haul wheel-rail contact wear is studied. To analyse wheel-rail contact wear damage due to existing high-adhesive AC locomotive, a methodology for investigation is proposed, and the locomotive models are required to run at 20 km/h under maximum traction efforts, and the simulations include a DC locomotive for comparison. An extended creep force model, which was developed by Polach and has been widely used for the wheel-rail contacts under dry and wet conditions with variable friction coefficients, is further extended to apply for the typical low-coefficient-friction modifier, oil, and grease lubricant conditions. The wear models from two pairs of wheel-rail materials are used to predict the wear rates, and the wear numbers Tγ are presented for discussions. The simulations show that the lubricants significantly reduce the wheel-rail contact wear.