Effects of residual stress and shape of web plate on the fatigue life of railway wheels

Railway wheels have been one of the most critical components in a railway vehicle. Fatigue design of railway wheel is one of the most important factors. Damages on the wheel can be divided into three types, such as the contact fatigue of the tread, the thermal fatigue of the rim due to braking and the mechanical fatigue of the web plate. The railway wheel has the initial residual stress formed during the manufacturing process, and this residual stress changes due to the thermal stress induced by braking. In this study, we evaluated residual stress of web plate by heat treatment due to the manufacturing process and changes of residual stress by braking using finite element analysis. The cyclic stress history for fatigue analysis is determined by applying finite element method. The fatigue strength evaluations of the web plate are performed to investigate the effect of the residual stress.