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Application of the Failure Assessment Diagram approach for contact fatigue damage evaluation in railway wheel steels
Author(s) -
Donzella Giorgio,
Danesi Andrea,
Mazzù Angelo,
Petrogalli Candida,
Ghidini Andrea,
Faccoli Michela
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
fatigue and fracture of engineering materials and structures
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.887
H-Index - 84
eISSN - 1460-2695
pISSN - 8756-758X
DOI - 10.1111/ffe.13480
Subject(s) - structural engineering , materials science , diagram , contact mechanics , fracture (geology) , failure assessment , stress (linguistics) , fatigue testing , fracture mechanics , metallurgy , composite material , finite element method , engineering , mathematics , statistics , linguistics , philosophy
Abstract A Failure Assessment Diagram (FAD), developed for rolling contact, was specifically formulated for railway wheel steels. The FAD allows combining a multiaxial fatigue criterion with the linear elastic fracture mechanics concept; in particular, it was used to assess the fatigue failure in wet contact, related to the pressurization of the fluid entrapped in surface cracks. The approach was applied to the results of previous bi‐disc tests carried out on three railway wheel steels, subjected first to a dry rolling‐sliding contact step, then to a wet contact step. The crack size distribution after the dry contact step was evaluated by a statistical approach; subsequently, the stress intensity factor during the wet contact step was estimated by finite elements. The results of the FAD agreed with the damage observed on the cross section of the specimens at the end of the tests. Furthermore, the FAD was used to determine the maximum allowable crack to prevent rolling contact fatigue, this way showing its potential as a damage tolerant approach.