DAMAGE OF THE WHEEL AND RAIL INTERACTING SURFACES AND THE RAIL CORRUGATION

G.TUMANISHVILI, T.NADIRADZE, R.BITSADZE, G.TUMANISHVILI, B.DIDEBASHVILI
Georgia

The characteristic roll-slip phenomena between the wheel and the rail are prone to develop a rail corrugation. There are a lot of scientific works and opinions about rail corrugation, but some aspects of this phenomenon are still insufficiently studied. 

Studies have shown high sensitivity of the third body to the sliding speed, which for heavy loaded interacting surfaces, like wheel and rail, often destroys the third body. This leads to sharp increase in wear rate and other undesirable phenomena. 

Was revealed the especially high sensitivity of various types of damage (scuffing, fatigue, plastic deformations) proceeding simultaneously in the contact zone to destruction degree of the third body.  

The researches have shown that necessary conditions for the rail corrugation are periodic slipping of the interacting surfaces of wheels and rails, destruction of the third body, and seizure of separate places of the surfaces. The onset and degree of destruction of the third body were determined in the laboratory conditions. In the capacity of sliding sources are considered movement of the wheelset in curves, non-roundness of the wheel, and wheels of the wheelset with different diameters.