A report on

Rail Wheel Interaction and Rail Grinding

Prepared by:
Saurabh Sharma
 Table of contents
• Introduction

• Types of rail defects

• Analysis of rail and wheel contact

• Rail grinding

• Purpose of rail grinding

• Types of rail grinding

• Rail grinding machines used by Indian railway

• Rail grinding machines offered by Loram

• Advantages of rail grinding

 Introduction

• Rail wear can occur due to residual stresses during the manufacturing process and
passage of the train [1].

• When the railway vehicle run over the rail it produces dynamic forces on the rail and
wheel.

• Stresses induced due to force in the rail can leads to serious defects which reduces the
rail life.

• Defected rails should be replaced, this increases overall cost of rail maintenance, thus
we need cost effective and efficient method of rail maintenance.

• F. C. M. Silva et. al. done a thorough and long term research on rail defects and
suggested cost effective and fast solution to remove these defects as before 2002 no
such techniques were used.
 Types of rail defects

Corrugation Head checks

Spalling

Flat rail Engine burn

 Analysis of rail wheel contact:

• Figure 1(a) and 1(b) are the one

point contact and two point contact
finite element analysis respectively.

• Both the figure shows the areas

where maximum stresses occur.

• Maximum stressed areas are the

defect prone area.

Fig 1. (a) distribution of the normal force of one

contact point. (b) distribution of normal force in the
case of two contact points [3]
 Analysis of rail wheel contact

• FEA done by Aalami et al., shown in

figure 2(a),

• figure 2(a) shows von-mises elastic strain

distribution of rail over different periods.

• Increasing corrugation defects over time

can be seen in fig 1(a).

• And figure 2(b) shows real-life rail

corrugation.

Fig 2. (a) Von-mises strain distribution on rail for different time (a) 𝑡
= 0.00625, (b) 𝑡 = 0.25, (c) 𝑡 = 0.50, (d) 𝑡 = 0.75, and (e) 𝑡 = 1[4]. (b)
Real life rail corrugation
 Rail Grinding

• Grinding is a process in which material

removal takes place In small quantity with
the help of grinding wheel.
• Grinding provide good surface finish and
high precision to shape and dimension
• for prevention of the defects and
increasing rail life material removal
through the grinding process has been
adopted nowadays.
• Grinding of the rail provides long life to
the rail and less wastage of the material
occurs during grinding process.
 Purpose of rail grinding
•Reducing contact stresses, this will result in reduction of wear and tear of rail.

•Reducing defects at the initial stage.

•Avoiding further growth of defects.

•Removing irregularities from the rail top for better ride quality.
 Types of Grinding
Indian railways have adopted the following types of grinding processes
 
• Corrective grinding: In corrective grinding complete removal of corrugation and
defects are done in one cycle

• Preventive grinding: If grinding is done in the initial stage of the defect and the
material removal is less than it is preventive grinding.

• Preventive-gradual grinding: when the defects have passed the preventive stage but
the corrective grinding stage is not achieved then this process is used the material
removal in this stage is more than preventive grinding but less than corrective
grinding[2].
 Rail Grinding Machine used by Indian railway
• Indian railway doing grinding suggested by Loram in consultation with National
Research Council, Centre for Surface Transportation Technology, Canada (NRC).
 
• For grinding purpose Indian railways is using RGI series of Loram technologies,
which consist of total 72 grinding stones. This machine is capable of grinding
curved and plain tracks, tracks on the bridge, and tunnels.

• This machine can be operated at a speed ranging between 2.4 Kmph to 24 Kmph
depending upon the material removal requirement. Also, a maximum cutting depth
that can achieve at a speed of 15 Kmph is .15 mm and a depth of .22 mm can be
achieved at a speed of 10 Kmph.

Components of rail grinding machine:

• Front control car

• Grind car
• Water wagon
• Rear control car

 
 Rail Grinding Machines offered by Loram
Loram technologies offer a wide range of grinding machines for rail grinding solutions
which are as follows:

• RG400 series: this machine can be used for high-speed preventive grinding or
intensive defect removal with a power of 30 hp. It can be configured with 60 to 120
stones and grind speed varies between 5 Kmph to 32 Kmph.

• C44 series: it can be used for railhead re-profiling, removing corrugation, corrosion,
and railhead surface irregularities. It can be configured with 32 or 64 stones.

• RGI series: RGI series can be used for restoring proper rail profile and removing
corrugation and surface defects with a power of 30 hp. It can be equipped with 16 to
96 grind stones. A grinding speed between 3 Kmph to 20 Kmph can be achieved by
RGI series.[5]
 
 Advantages of grinding
•Increased life of rail and wheel

•Reduction in defect generation and failures

•Increased safety and reliability of train operations

•Reduced maintenance costs

•Reduced resistance between rail and wheel

 Conclusion
•Rail grinding practice is proven to be effective in rail life maximization.

•Corrective grinding, preventive grinding, or preventive gradual grinding technique can

be adopted as required after inspection.

•By grinding process rail profile can be improved so that contact geometry between rail
and wheel will improve which will result in reduced contact stresses[6].
 References
[1]M. Ciotlaus, G. Kollo, V. Marusceac, and Z. Orban, “Rail-wheel Interaction and
Its Influence on Rail and Wheels Wear,” Procedia Manuf., vol. 32, pp. 895–900,
2019, doi: 10.1016/j.promfg.2019.02.300.
[2]F. C. M. Silva, “Preventive-Gradual On-Cycle Grinding: A First for MRS in
Brazil,” 2009.
[3]A. Sladkowski and M. Sitarz, “Analysis of wheel-rail interaction using FE
software,” Wear, vol. 258, no. 7–8, pp. 1217–1223, 2005, doi:
10.1016/j.wear.2004.03.032.
[4]M. R. Aalami, A. Anari, T. Shafighfard, and S. Talatahari, “A robust finite element
analysis of the Rail-Wheel rolling contact,” Adv. Mech. Eng., vol. 2013, 2013, doi:
10.1155/2013/272350.
[5]“Rail Grinding - Loram, Inc.” https://loram.com/maintenance-of-way/rail-
grinding.
[6]P. Sroba and M. Roney, “AREMA Committee 4, Sub Committee 9. Rail grinding
best practices,” 2003.
Thank You