Fatigue crack initiation life prediction of railroad

Study of multiaxial high-cycle fatigue initiation life prediction for railroad is done in this paper. Using ANSYS 11.0 software three dimensional elasto-plastic finite element model of rail/wheel contact is constructed and fine mesh technique in contact region is used to achieve both computational efficiency and accuracy. Stress analysis is performed and fatigue damage in railroad is evaluated numerically using multiaxial fatigue crack initiation model. Using the stress history during one loading cycle and fatigue damage model, the effects of vertical loading, material hardness material fatigue properties and wheel/rail contact situation on fatigue crack initiation life are investigated.