using low-cycle fatigue method to predict fatigue life of rail crack initiation location by means of 3d-finite element simulation on sharped curved track

Dynamic modeling of wheel-rail interaction is significant for accurate fatigue analysis of railways. both the location and magnitude of wheel-rail stress must be evaluated accurately and efficiently via computational tools. in curved railway tracks, the distribution of the force exerted on the wheel is complex as it is multiaxial rather than uniaxial; thus, a more comprehensive computational model is required. in this work, a numerical procedure is developed to investigate fatigue crack initiation on curved tracks by using universal mechanism software to specify the spectrum of axial wheel force as input to a three-dimensional explicit finite element model to obtain the resulting stress at the wheel-rail contact region. a critical plane method based on low cyclic fatigue conditions and multiaxial loading is used for determining the location of crack initiation and its orientation. in this approach, the effect of radius on the exact location of fatigue crack initiation is established. the proposed model successfully predicts a realistic wheel-rail dynamic response to cyclic loading by applying the geometry of the curved track.