The Strength of Railroad Wheels : 1st Report, Thermal Stresses in Disc Wheels

Abstract

When the tread brake is applied to the conventional railroad wheel, the temperature in the rim rises and a thermal expansion of the rim occurs. Since this expansion of the rim causes a redial tensile force to act on the wheel disc, it is necessary to know how the force affects the strength of the wheel. In this paper, the temperature distributions in the rim were calculated approximately as a problem of the linear heat conduction through a semi-infinite plate with a line heat source, and the thermal stresses in the wheel disc corresponding to the temperature distributions were analysed, based on the shell theory. On the other hand, brake tests on the actual wheel were conducted on a brake testing bench, and the theoretical results were compared with the experimental values.