Volume 25 Issue 2
Apr.  2025
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Article Contents
HU Fei-fei, QIN Tian-yu, AO Ni, XU Ping-guang, SU Yu-hua, PARKER Joseph Don, SHINOHARA Takenao, SHOBU Takahisa, KANG Guo-zheng, REN Ming-ming, MA Yi-zhong, KANG Feng, WU Sheng-chuan. Residual stress measurement and lifetime evaluation of railway axles by neutron scattering technology[J]. Journal of Traffic and Transportation Engineering, 2025, 25(2): 75-93. doi: 10.19818/j.cnki.1671-1637.2025.02.005
Citation: HU Fei-fei, QIN Tian-yu, AO Ni, XU Ping-guang, SU Yu-hua, PARKER Joseph Don, SHINOHARA Takenao, SHOBU Takahisa, KANG Guo-zheng, REN Ming-ming, MA Yi-zhong, KANG Feng, WU Sheng-chuan. Residual stress measurement and lifetime evaluation of railway axles by neutron scattering technology[J]. Journal of Traffic and Transportation Engineering, 2025, 25(2): 75-93. doi: 10.19818/j.cnki.1671-1637.2025.02.005

Residual stress measurement and lifetime evaluation of railway axles by neutron scattering technology

doi: 10.19818/j.cnki.1671-1637.2025.02.005
Funds:

National Natural Science Foundation of China 52475167

National Key R&D Program of China 2023YFA1609200

Independent Program of the State Key Laboratory of Rail Transit Vehicle System 2024RVL-T06

More Information
  • Corresponding author: WU Sheng-chuan (1979-), male, research fellow, PhD, wusc@swjtu.edu.cn
  • Received Date: 2024-04-25
  • Publish Date: 2025-04-28
  • To accurately predict the remaining lifetime of surface-strengthed railway axles, a damage tolerance analysis method considering three-dimensional (3D) residual stresses was proposed. By taking the induction-hardened carbon steel S38C axle as an example, two-dimensional (2D) distribution characterization of residual strain and 3D residual stress measurement were performed through comprehensive application of the neutron Bragg-edge transmission imaging and angle-dispersive neutron diffraction experiments. A numerical method was employed to implant the 3D residual stress into the axle model, and the remaining lifetime of the full-scale axle was studied by coupling the measured load spectrum, press-fit loads, and residual stresses. Experimental results show that, both axial and hoop directions present a compressive residual strain gradient layer of about 3 mm, with a maximum compressive residual strain of up to -4.5×10-3 in the surface layer, yet a maximum strain of up to 1.0×10-3 in the core. The maximum axial and hoop compressive residual stresses of the axle are about -500 and -303 MPa, respectively, while radial stresses overall fluctuate in the zero mean stress range. At depths beyond 4.5 mm from the surface layer, all three components are tensile stresses. The axle surface layer is subjected to compressive residual stresses, and crack propagation does not occur if the crack depth is less than 4.5 mm. Nevertheless, cracks propagate accelerates when the crack depth is greater than 4.5 mm. Different crack propagation depth thresholds lead to a larger calculated remaining lifetime for the residual stress-free condition than for the case where 3D residual stresses are taken into account. However, the axle remaining service mileage of the axle of 227 000 km under the most conservative conditions exceeds 3.5 non-destructive inspection (NDI) cycles, with a large safety margin. The experimental results can provide a scientific reference for the development and optimization of NDI cycles for surface-strengthed railway axles.

     

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