FATIGUE ANALYSIS OF RAIL JOINT USING FINITE ELEMENT METHOD

Sunil Patel, Veerendra Kumar, Raji Nareliya

Abstract: Fatigue life estimates can be used to guide the selection of inspection intervals for rail joint bars in service. A three-dimensional finite element model for rail joint bars is developed and dynamic load is applied to estimate the fatigue life of the joint bars. Different components of the rail joint bars are being created separately and assemble in Autodesk Inventor. The model consists of assembly of the rail, joint bars, bolts, nuts, washers, and wheel. A three-dimensional finite element analysis of rail joint bars is carried out in ANSYS after importing from Autodesk Inventor. The static and dynamic loads are being applied to estimate fatigue life and endurance strength at the section. The material properties of the rail and wheel are assumed to be same. The material properties of the wheel and rail are considered to be bilinear kinematic hardening in ANSYS. All the material properties and boundary conditions are being applied strictly as per the guidelines made available by the Indian Railways in their manual.

Keywords: Rail Joint, Modeling, Finite Element Method

DOI: https://doi.org/10.15623/ijret.2013.0201016