• Journal of the Korean Society for Railway
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• v.11 no.6
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• pp.524-529
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• 2008

The damaged wheel in railway vehicle would cause a poor ride comfort, a rise in the maintenance cost and even fracture of the wheel, which then leads to a tremendous social and economical cost. The defect initiation and crack propagation in wheel may result in the damage of the railway vehicle or derailment. Therefore, it is important to evaluate the characteristics of the wheel tread. In the present paper, the characteristics of wheel tread based on contact positions, running distance and brake pattern are evaluated. The result shows that the damaged wheel tread is remarkably depended on the contact positions between wheel and rail.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Automotive Engineers
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• v.14 no.6
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• pp.95-103
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• 2006

Wheel treads of E.M.U. are usually under a heavy thermal load by brake frictional heat between wheel and brake shoe and damaged by repeated thermal and mechanical loads. To examine the cause of wheel tread damage of E.M.U.'s in service running, a systematic approach has been used. This study is composed of three parts. Frictional heat analysis was conducted in the first part by finite element method. Two kinds of brake shoes in service were considered. In the second part, experimental study was carried out on a brake dynamometer. Temperatures were measured for the two brake shoes. And experimental study in service running E.M.U.'s was performed. Wheel and brake shoe temperatures were measured by using thermocouples and temperature indicating strips. Finally metallurgical characteristics were examined by a SEM/EDS and the cause of the wheel damage was analyzed. It seems that aggregated ferrous component is a main cause of the wheel tread damage.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers A
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• v.31 no.7 s.262
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• pp.756-763
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• 2007

The majority of catastrophic wheel failures are caused by surface opening fatigue cracks either in the wheel tread or wheel flange areas. The inclined cracks at railway wheel tread are initiated and the cracks are caused by wheel damage-spatting after 60,000 km running. Because the failured railway wheel is reprofiled before regular wheel reprofiling, the maintenance cost for the railway wheel is increased. Therefore, it is necessary to analyze the mechanism for initiation of crack. In the present paper, the combined effect on railway wheels of a periodically varying contact pressure and an intermittent thermal braking loading is investigated. To analyze damage cause for railway wheels, the measurements for replication of wheel surface and the effect of braking application in field test are carried out. The result shows that the damages in railway wheel tread are due to combination of thermal loading and ratcheting.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Railway
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• v.19 no.5
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• pp.565-575
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• 2016

Wheel reprofiling is frequently conducted to remove faults such as flange wear, flat areas, and cracks that occur in railway vehicle operation. We analyzed the dynamic performances of a vehicle before and after wheel reprofiling to grasp the influence of reprofiling on the dynamic behavior of the vehicle. We measured the wheel profile of the test vehicle and conducted a running test to analyze the vibration and comfort characteristics of the test vehicle. The result of the test indicated that vibration of the test vehicle after wheel reprofiling was reduced compared to that before wheel reprofiling. And, comfort level of the test vehicle after wheel reprofiling was improved by about 3dB laterally and vertically. Consequently, the positive effect of wheel reprofiling on the dynamic performance of vehicle was verified.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Precision Engineering
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• v.28 no.5
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• pp.537-542
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• 2011

The thermo-mechanical interaction between brake block and wheel tread during braking has been found to cause thermal crack on the wheel tread. Due to thermal expansion of the rim material, the thermal cracks will protrude from the wheel tread and be more exposed to wear during the wheel/block contact than the rest of the tread surface. The wheel rim is in residual compression stress when is new. After service running, the region in the tread has reversed to tension. This condition can lead to the formation and growth of thermal cracks in the rim which can ultimately lead to premature failure of wheel. In the present paper, the thermal cracks of railway wheel, one of severe damages on the wheel tread, were evaluated to understand the safety of railway wheel in running condition. The residual stresses for damaged wheel which are applied to tread brake are investigated. Mainly X-ray diffusion method is used. Under the condition of concurrent loading of continuous rolling contact with rails and cyclic frictional heat from brake blocks, the reduction of residual stress is found to correlate well with the thermal crack initiation.