Study of kinetic performance effect on wheel and rail wear using computer simulation

The study object is a “wheel - rail” system. The subject is the computer simulation of the system elements wear. The work objective is to investigate the wheel and rail wear dependence on the kinetic performance parameters. The problems solved here are analysis of the earlier proposed mathematical functions describing the kinetic performance for the presence of extremes, the functional behavior (growth, decrease, monotonicity, and unimodality, etc.) in various parameter ranges; implementation of the computer simulation of the wheelpair movement by rail with the quantitative estimation of the wheel and rail wear with various kinetic performance parameters; to determine qualitative influence patterns of the kinetic wear performance. The simulation is fulfilled by the software package “Universal Mechanism”. As a result, values of various characteristics related to wear (power, total and specific friction work) under different conditions of the kinetic friction performance are obtained. The conclusions are as follows. The kinetic friction performance parameters must be considered as they can significantly affect the wear within the range of the actual operating conditions in the course of the computer simulation. Under some conditions, there are cases when an increase in the friction coefficient is accompanied by a decrease in depreciation. It is proposed to continue the research in two main areas: determining the influence patterns on the kinetic friction performance and wear of the multiple actual factors, and studying the dynamic (at variable slip velocity) feature of friction effect on the parameter wear through the same procedure.