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The contact of steel wheel on steel rail is fundamental to railway operation, but it pushes rail and wheel materials to their limit. It’s safety critical with all traction and braking forces transmitted through it, it controls train dynamics and requires the performance of a precision rolling element bearing, yet it’s open to rain, snow and contamination. Learn about projects tackling these challenges here. 

Projects

• Developing onboard monitoring of rail-wheel adhesion levels

• Characterisation and understanding rail steel behaviour for in-service life prediction

• Additive manufacturing for railway track component life extension

• Optimising rail grinding practice for premium rail materials

• Investigating Low Adhesion Transience

• Improving Prediction of Low Adhesion Friction using Machine Learning Approaches

• Modelling of wheel/rail interface with Slippy

• Wheel/Rail Interface Sanding for Traction Enhancement

• Developing validated benchmark tests for assessing friction management products

• Understanding Leaf Chemistry and Effects on Friction

• Rail Surface Quality Improvements from Utilizing a Novel High Speed Superabrasive Grinding Approach

• Rail damage modelling - Modelling of crack growth and wear being subject to severe plastic deformation