Study on Dynamic Wheel/Rail Interaction Caused by Polygonal Wheels

In order to study the influences of polygonal wheel on wheel/rail dynamic characteristics, a transient finite element model of a high-speed train with 20 orders polygonal wheel abrasion is established. The parallel computing is used to improve the calculation speed. The work conditions with the passing speeds of 200 km/h, 240 km/h, 280 km/h and 320 km/h are chosen. The vertical forces and the longitudinal forces of wheel/rail contact are calculated to analyze the dynamics performance in the time domain and the frequency domain. The peak-peak value of the maximum vertical contact force at the fastening increases linearly by about 3 kN per 10 km/h when the passing speed is above 200 km/h and then grows slowly with the passing speed above 280 km/h. The vertical contact force dominant frequencies are almost the same as passing frequencies be caused by the polygonal wheels at different passing speeds and the energy are concentrated at the only dominant frequencies. While the energy distributions of longitudinal contact force are scattered due to the nonlinear contact system that will affect the development of the wheel polygon.