Development and Application of Rail Defect Fracture Models to Assess Remedial Actions

摘要

The fracture mechanics models were refined for two types of rail defects - the bolt hole crack and the vertical split head. Beam-type finite element analysis was conducted to determine the effects of joint bar looseness, rail height mismatch and train speed on the static and dynamic components of the crack driving force for the bolt hole crack. Both two- and three-dimensional finite element analyses were conducted to determine the Modes I and II stress intensities for a kinked vertical split head crack. The results from these analyses were reviewed to determine their implication on remedial actions.