Characteristics of Wheel Tread for Urban Train Based on Contact Positions

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.