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Multi-Axial Fatigue Analysis of Thermite Rail Welds

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Multi-Axial Fatigue Analysis of Thermite Rail Welds MULTI-AXIAL FATIGUE ANALYSIS OF THERMITE RAIL WELDS A Dissertation by MARYAM TAVAKOLI Submitted to the Office of Graduate and Professional Studies of Texas A&M University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY Chair of Committee, Gary T. Fry Committee Members, David H. Allen Peter B. Keating Vikram Kinra Head of Department, Robin Autenrieth December 2018 Major Subject: Civil Engineering Copyright 2018 Maryam Tavakoli ABSTRACT This dissertation aims to examine the high-cycle fatigue behavior of thermite- welded railroad rails. In particular, the occurrence of fatigue defects in web and base regions of the rail is addressed, as frequently reported by field surveys. Fatigue life estimates are made by means of a multi-axial critical-plane fatigue algorithm that computes the fatigue damage based on the time history of stress tensors. The finite element method is used to analyze a full-scale replica of the wheel-track system comprising axle, wheel, thermite-welded rail, tie plates, and ties. The time-dependent rolling of the wheel and thermal stresses caused by seasonal temperature variations are incorporated into the finite element simulation. In addition, the effects of the track foundation stiffness and thermite weld geometry are explored. Fatigue crack nucleation is studied at three critical locations of the rail, where most reported weld service failures occur: web-to-base fillet, base center, and base corners. Under wheel loads, the results of the fatigue analysis indicate that it can take a long period of time for a fatigue crack to nucleate in the aforementioned regions of the rail if the material is nominally “defect-free”. Fatigue cracks tend to initiate in a transverse plane, next to the thermite weld, perpendicular to flexural tensile stresses that form in the rail base. The implementation of small planar surface defects at critical locations has shown to significantly reduce the fatigue nucleation life of thermite rail welds. Also, axial tensile stresses resulting from cold winter weather are found to considerably accelerate the fatigue nucleation process, especially in the web-to-base fillet region. ii DEDICATION To my beloved parents and my wonderful sister iii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I would like to give a special thank you to my advisor, Dr. Gary Fry, for providing invaluable guidance during the course of this study. His inspiration, kindness, and endless support helped me go through many difficult times along the way. The precious life lessons and professional mentorship that he passed on to me will live on always and forever. I would like to acknowledge my other committee members, Dr. David Allen, Dr. Peter Keating, and Dr. Vikram Kinra for their insightful suggestions and comments. I thank Dr. Akram Abu-Odeh for his support during the early stages of this work. My appreciation also goes to my colleagues in the research group, especially Dr. Maysam Kiani, for their friendship and assistance. My deepest gratitude extends to my parents whose love and encouragement have allowed me to follow my aspirations. Without their constant support and sacrifice, I could never reach this academic level. I am also very grateful to my sister, Maedeh, who kindly accompanied me through my journey at Texas A&M. This project was conducted under the auspices of the Transportation Technology Center Inc. (a subsidiary of the Association of American Railroads) which provided technical and financial support. Center for Railway Research at Texas A&M Transportation Institute and Texas A&M Supercomputing Facility are also acknowledged for their generous allocation of facilities and computational resources. iv CONTRIBUTORS AND FUNDING SOURCES Contributors This dissertation was supported by a committee comprising Dr. Gary Fry, Dr. David Allen, and Dr. Peter Keating of the Department of Civil Engineering and Dr. Vikram Kinra of the Department of Aerospace Engineering at Texas A&M University. All the work presented in this dissertation was completed independently by the student. Funding Sources Funding for the project came from the Transportation Technology Center Inc. (a subsidiary of the Association of American Railroads) and the Center for Railway Research at Texas A&M Transportation Institute. Partial financial support was also provided by Zachry Endowed Fellowship and Troy Marceleno Fellowship from the Department of Civil Engineering. v TABLE OF CONTENTS Page ABSTRACT .......................................................................................................................ii DEDICATION ................................................................................................................. iii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ................................................................................................. iv CONTRIBUTORS AND FUNDING SOURCES .............................................................. v TABLE OF CONTENTS .................................................................................................. vi LIST OF FIGURES ........................................................................................................... ix LIST OF TABLES ......................................................................................................... xiii 1. INTRODUCTION ......................................................................................................... 1 1.1 Background ............................................................................................................ 1 1.2 Scope and Objective ............................................................................................... 3 1.3 Organization ........................................................................................................... 4 2. LITERATURE REVIEW ON THERMITE RAIL WELDS ......................................... 5 2.1 Introduction ............................................................................................................ 5 2.2 History of Thermite Welding ................................................................................. 5 2.3 Development of Rail Welding Technologies ......................................................... 7 2.4 Rail Thermite Welding Procedure ........................................................................ 12 2.5 Reliability of Thermite Rail Welds ...................................................................... 16 2.6 Properties of Thermite Rail Welds ....................................................................... 17 2.6.1 Macrostructure of Thermite Rail Welds ........................................................ 17 2.6.2 Microstructure of Thermite Rail Welds ......................................................... 18 2.6.3 Mechanical Properties of Thermite Rail Welds ............................................. 19 2.6.4 Residual Stresses in Thermite Rail Welds ..................................................... 21 2.6.5 Fatigue Crack Nucleation Sites in Thermite Rail Welds ............................... 26 2.7 Summary .............................................................................................................. 29 vi Page 3. SIMULATION OF WHEEL-RAIL INTERACTION ................................................. 30 3.1 Introduction .......................................................................................................... 30 3.2 Wheel Rolling Contact ......................................................................................... 30 3.3 Rail Thermal Variations ....................................................................................... 32 3.4 Finite Element Analysis of Wheel-Rail Interaction ............................................. 34 3.5 Material Model ..................................................................................................... 40 3.6 Loading Steps ....................................................................................................... 42 3.7 Results and Discussion ......................................................................................... 44 3.7.1 Rail Stresses under a Rolling Wheel ............................................................. 45 3.7.2 Rail Thermal Stresses .................................................................................... 50 3.7.3 Simplified Model ........................................................................................... 51 3.8 Summary .............................................................................................................. 53 4. FATIGUE MODEL ..................................................................................................... 55 4.1 Introduction .......................................................................................................... 55 4.2 Multi-axial Fatigue Criteria .................................................................................. 58 4.2.1 Findley Fatigue Criterion .............................................................................. 60 4.2.2 Dang Van Fatigue Criterion .......................................................................... 62 4.2.3 Brown-Miller Fatigue Criterion .................................................................... 64 4.2.4 Fatemi-Socie Fatigue Criterion ..................................................................... 65 4.3 Fatigue Index Calculation .................................................................................... 67 4.4 Fatigue Life Predictions ......................................................................................
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