Wheel / Rail Dynamic Contact Behavior and Wheel Wear Evolution of Heavy Haul Locomotive under Traction/ Braking Condition

The increase of traction / braking force would reduce flange wear and shift the wear peak at the - 40 ~ - 20 mm position on the tread toward the nominal rolling circle. However, the increase of traction force would intensify wheel wear at the -15 ~ 15 mm position around the nominal rolling circle, resulting in wheel hollow wear. As the operating mileage increased the scope of this wheel hollow wear would expand, resulting in serious wear at the position of -30 ~ 30 mm.

Under the inert condition, the maximum tread wear was 2.81 mm when the wheel ran for 10×104 km, while the applied braking force of 140 kN reaches the minimum value of 2.41 mm, and the reduction rate was 14.2%. When locomotive was running on a small radius curve line, considering the influence of wheel-rail adhesion and traction / braking load, applying a small traction force such as 80 kN or applying a 140 ~ 200 kN braking force would reduce wheel wear.