Wheel Wear Prediction and Analysis for Heavy-Haul Freight Wagons

To investigate the wheel wear of the C80-type gondola freight wagon on heavy-haul railways, a coupled dynamics model of the heavy-haul freight wagon and track was developed using multibody dynamics software. By integrating the Kik-Piotrowski model and the Fastrip model, and adopting the USFD wear model, a long-term wear prediction methodology was implemented through programming. A case study was conducted on the section from Hudong Station to Liucun Station on the Daqin Railway to predict wheel wear. The results indicate that the wear on the first wheelset is primarily distributed on both sides of the nominal rolling circle. As the operating mileage increases, both the depth and extent of wheel wear gradually escalate, leading to severe circumferential tread wear and flange wear. At 200,000 kilometers, the maximum wear depth reaches 7.4 mm, with a wear distribution range of −41.7 mm to 32.8 mm.