The principles of heat transfer are applied to analyze the so-called "rail chill" effect, which refers to hear loss by conduction from a hot rail vehicle wheel through the contact area into a cold rail, the wheel having been heated by friction braking. A difference of more than a factor of two is demonstrated between chill effectiveness based on instantaneous heat generation and transfer rates, and the total heat lost to the rail, as a percentage of the total heat generated over a specific period of time, in transient situations such as braking.
Based on the results of wheel slide tests and an inspection of wheels, the root cause of tread buildup (TBU) was identified aswheel slide caused by ex...
"Rolling contact fatigue (RCF) is a pervasive and insidious problem on all types of railway systems. Although it is a dominant cause of maintenance an...
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