Design Technologies for Railway Wheels and Future Prospects

Abstract

Solid wheels for railway need to have several characteristics such as enough strength, anti wear, anti thermal damage and noise / vibration characteristics. A solid wheel consists of three portions, that is, hub, web and rim. The characteristics for each portion are different each other. The web portion has to have enough mechanical strength against the loads caused by vehicle mass, and at the same time, its configuration is designed from the view point of thermal stress distribution. For the rim portion, steel grade is to be considered from the view points of anti wear and anti thermal characteristics each of which has different dependence on carbon content of the material. The material specification of wheels for do mestic service was determined according to a series of research on wear characteristics of wheels and rails.