Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: http://hdl.handle.net/1959.3/47646

Title

Image analysis to reveal crack development using a computer simulation of wear and rolling contact fatigue

Author(s)

Fletcher, D. I.;  Franklin, F. J.;  Kapoor, A.

Abstract

Plastic flow of near-surface rail material under contact loading is a feature of rail-wheel contact, and severe flow typically leads to both wear, and the initiation and development of small surface-breaking cracks. This paper presents results from a ratcheting based computer simulation, which has been developed to allow the simultaneous investigation of wear, crack initiation and early crack propagation. To identify repeatably small crack-like flaws, image analysis is applied to the visual representation of the wearing surface generated by the model. This representation shows a good similarity to traditional micrographs taken from sections of worn surfaces. The model clearly reveals the interaction of wear with crack development, processes which are linked because wear truncates surface-breaking cracks, and can completely remove small surface-breaking cracks.

Publication type

Journal article

Source

Fatigue and Fracture of Engineering Materials and Structures, Vol. 26, no. 10 (Oct 2003), pp. 957-967

Publication year

2003

Keyword(s)

Computer simulation;  Contact loading;  Crack initiation;  Crack propagation;  Failure;  Fatigue of materials;  Image analysis;  Loading;  Mathematical models;  Plastic flow;  Rail steel;  Rail wheel contact;  Rolling contact;  Rolling contact fatigue;  Simulation;  Surface breaking cracks;  Wear

Publisher

Wiley-Blackwell

ISSN

8756-758X

Publisher URL

http://dx.doi.org/10.1046/j.1460-2695.2003.00696.x

Copyright

Copyright © 2003 Blackwell Publishing.

Peer reviewed