Polygonisation is a common nonuniform wear phenomenon occurring in railway vehicle wheels and has a severe impact on the vehicle–track system, ride comfort, and lineside residents. This paper first summarizes periodic defects of the wheels, including wheel polygonisation and wheel corrugation, occurring in railways worldwide. Thereafter, the effects of wheel polygonisation on the wheel–rail interaction, noise and vibration, and fatigue failure of the vehicle and track components are reviewed. Based on the different causes, the formation mechanisms of periodic wheel defects are classified into three categories: (1) initial defects of wheels, (2) natural vibration of the vehicle–track system, and (3) thermoelastic instability. In addition, the simulation methods of wheel polygonisation evolution and countermeasures to mitigate wheel polygonisation are presented. Emphasis is given to the characteristics, effects, causes, and solutions of wheel polygonisation in metro vehicles, locomotives, and high-speed trains in China. Finally, the guidance is provided on further understanding the formation mechanisms, monitoring technology, and maintenance criterion of wheel polygonisation.

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Polygonisation of railway wheels: a critical review

\n Wear problems of wheel/rail systems occurring on the Chinese high-speed railway network in the last decade are summarized and explained together with the corresponding experience of treating them. Focus is placed on uneven wear because even wear is not an urgent issue due to its very low wear rate for the Chinese high-speed railway systems. Two typical problems of longitudinal uneven wear, namely, wheel polygonization and rail corrugation, are introduced in terms of their characteristics, consequences, causes and initiation mechanisms. Next, wheel hollow wear and flange/gauge side wear, as typical problems of lateral uneven wear, are similarly discussed. Validated countermeasures against all these problems are presented at the end of this paper together with further proposals under testing or consideration. This work is principally based on first-hand data collected from field observations, monitoring tests and dynamic measurements, but typical numerical approaches and results are also presented to help explain the observed phenomena.

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Wear Problems of High-Speed Wheel/Rail Systems: Observations, Causes, and Countermeasures in China

A two-level adaptive chirp mode decomposition method for the railway wheel flat detection under variable-speed conditions

OORNet: A deep learning model for on-board condition monitoring and fault diagnosis of out-of-round wheels of high-speed trains

Excessive vibrations of railway vehicles induced by dynamic impact loadings have a significant impact on train operating safety and stability; however, due to the complexity and diversity of railway lines and service environment, they are extremely difficult to eliminate. A comprehensive overview of recent studies on the impact vibration behavior of railway vehicles was given in this paper. First, the sources of impact excitations were categorized in terms of wheel-rail contact irregularity, aerodynamic loads, and longitudinal impulses by train traction/braking. Then the main research approaches of vehicle impact vibration were briefly introduced in theoretical, experimental, and simulation aspects. Also, the impact vibration response characteristics of railway vehicles were categorized and examined in detail to various impact excitation sources. Finally, some attempts of using the railway vehicle vibration to detect track defects and the possible mitigation measures were outlined.

Impact vibration behavior of railway vehicles: a state-of-the-art overview

High-order polygonal wear wheels have been detected on metro express train operating on one metro line in China, which cause fatigue failures of steel coil springs in the primary suspension. A seri...

An investigation into the mechanism of high-order polygonal wear of metro train wheels and its mitigation measures

On the formation mechanism of high-order polygonal wear of metro train wheels: Experiment and simulation

Experimental investigation of effect of wheel out-of-roundness on fracture of coil springs in metro vehicles

Wheel polygonisation is a wavy wear on wheel’s circumference, which aggravates the wheel-rail interaction and prematurely invalidates or damages the components of vehicle-track system. This paper presents an investigation into the formation mechanism of high-order polygonal wear of metro train wheels through field experiments and numerical simulations. Some necessary field experiments are conducted to obtain the characteristics of the irregular wear of the wheels and the dynamics responses of the vehicle components. The numerical modal analysis of vehicle’s key components is performed. Furthermore, a long-term wheel wear model is built including a vehicle-track dynamics model coupled with a local wear model. The metro vehicle-track coupled dynamics model considers the flexibilities of the wheelset and track, where the wheelset and track are modelled using finite element method. The effects of elastic deformation of the wheelsets and rails on creepages, creep forces and wheel wear can be considered in the model. The investigation results indicate that the dominating order of wheel polygonal wear is 11–16, corresponding to wavelengths of 165–240 mm. The formation mechanism of high-order wheel polygonal wear is the P2 resonance of some types of track structure, and the first bending resonance of the wheelset can accelerate the development of wheel polygonal wear.

Xiaoxuan Yang

Papers

Polygonisation of railway wheels: a critical review

An investigation into the mechanism of high-order polygonal wear of metro train wheels and its mitigation measures

On the formation mechanism of high-order polygonal wear of metro train wheels: Experiment and simulation

Experimental investigation of effect of wheel out-of-roundness on fracture of coil springs in metro vehicles

The Formation Mechanism of High-Order Polygonal Wear of Metro Train Wheels