Research on Load Characteristics of Axle-Box Bearing Raceway under Wheel-Rail Excitation

With the increasing speed of high-speed trains, the service conditions of axle-box bearing system worsen, and meanwhile, the dynamic performance of the axle-box bearing directly affects the operational safety. However, the dynamic interactions of the axle-box bearing in the traditional vehicle-track system are often ignored. In this paper, a vehicle-track coupling dynamic model considering axle-box bearing has been built, and the effectiveness of the model is proved by field tests. Dynamic performance of the axle-box bearing has been analyzed and discussed through numerical simulations under different working conditions. Comparing the roller-raceway contact load characteristics under different working conditions, results show that the peak values of roller-outer raceway contact load with wheel-polygonal excitation are basically the same with those without wheel-rail excitation. However, most of the peak values of roller-outer raceway contact force under track irregularity and comprehensive excitation conditions are far greater than those under wheel-polygonal excitation and no wheel-rail excitation conditions, which indicates that the impact of track irregularity on the contact load is dominant.