Calculation of strength of railway wheels

Abstract

This paper presents a methodology for calculating strength of railway vehicles wheel, according to current international standards. The methodology is demonstrated by the example of monoblock wheel of a standard wheelset of a freight wagon for a axle load of 200 kN. Analysis of stress-strain states and static and dynamic safety factor of wheel was performed using the finite element method in the software package ANSYS. For determination sizes of contact surface at places where loads are placed, Hertz contact theory between two elastic bodies was applied. The obtained result showed that the analyzed wheel has the necessary safety factor and satisfies all the strength criteria defined by the standards.