Beagles, A. orcid.org/0000-0001-8306-5632 and Fletcher, D. (2016) Combining crack-growth, contact geometry, and probabilistic methodology to plan optimised rail grinding. In: World Congress on Railway Research (WCRR) 2016, Milan, Italy. 11th World Congress on Railway Research, 29 May - 02 Jun 2016, Milan. WCRR Papers (PB024769). WCRR
Abstract
This research was undertaken to assist infrastructure managers (IM) to plan the utilisation of their grinding trains: an expensive resource. It was undertaken to support increasing the competitiveness of rail freight by considering combined improvements in both freight vehicle and track components in a holistic approach including economic assessments. A major cost to freight operators are the access charges that IM charge to cover the costs of track maintenance; these costs (and hence access charges) may be reduced if maintenance requirements can be linked more closely to loads imposed by traffic, enabling optimum grinding schedules to be developed and life cycle costs of rail to be reduced. Infrastructure managers undertake grinding to prevent the growth and/or formation of rolling contact fatigue (RCF) cracks, to remove corrugations from the rail head, and potentially to improve acoustic track quality and hence the sound pollution associated with rail operations. Grinding is the most expensive maintenance operation carried out on railways in the UK; in 2008 it was reported to cost £0.08/kgtkm (2006/07 prices); this was 30% more per kgtkm than plain-line tamping and twice that of changing rail due to defects. It is thus important to apply grinding efficiently and optimum grinding strategies have been the subject of considerable research. This paper focuses on strategies for the removal of RCF cracks, extending the work reported in.
Metadata
Item Type: | Proceedings Paper |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © 2017 WCCR. |
Keywords: | Rail grinding; contact geometry; crack-growth |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of Sheffield |
Academic Units: | The University of Sheffield > Faculty of Engineering (Sheffield) > Department of Mechanical Engineering (Sheffield) |
Funding Information: | Funder Grant number EUROPEAN COMMISSION - FP6/FP7 SUSTRAIL - 265740 |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Sheffield |
Date Deposited: | 05 Jan 2018 13:25 |
Last Modified: | 05 Jan 2018 13:28 |
Published Version: | https://www.sparkrail.org/Lists/Records/DispForm.a... |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | WCRR |
Series Name: | WCRR Papers |
Refereed: | Yes |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:124413 |