Rolling contact fatigue damage of rails is significantly influenced by residual stresses. A three-dimensional elastic-plastic finite element model of wheel–rail contact was established in the present study, and the influence of initial stresses resulting from rail manufacturing process on the residual stress distribution of rails was analyzed. The repeated rolling passes were simulated and the stable residual stress distribution of rails was obtained. The influence of factors, such as wheel load, friction coefficient, and longitudinal creep rate, on the residual stress distribution of rails was investigated. It is found that within the limited special scale affected by the wheel–rail contact, the difference between the longitudinal residual stress with initial stresses applied and that without initial stresses applied becomes quite small once enough rolling passes have occurred (i.e., 10 rolling passes). When the initial stresses are applied, the longitudinal residual compressive stress on wheel–rail contact center of the rail is approximately 500 MPa. The residual compressive stress decreases with the increasing depth and changes from compression to tension at the depth of 6 mm beneath wheel–rail contact center of the rail. The wheel load mainly affects the residual stress distribution along the depth direction beneath rail surface. The friction coefficient mainly affects the residual stress distribution on the rail surface. The longitudinal creep rate has a great influence on the longitudinal residual stresses at the surface and along the depth of the rail.

中文翻译：

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铁路钢轨残余应力分布研究

钢轨的滚动接触疲劳损伤受残余应力的影响很大。本研究建立了轮轨接触的三维弹塑性有限元模型，分析了钢轨制造过程中产生的初始应力对钢轨残余应力分布的影响。对重复轧制道次进行模拟，得到稳定的钢轨残余应力分布。研究了轮载、摩擦系数、纵向蠕变率等因素对钢轨残余应力分布的影响。发现在受轮轨接触影响的有限特殊尺度内，一旦发生足够的轧制道次（即 10 个轧制道次），施加初始应力的纵向残余应力与未施加初始应力的纵向残余应力之间的差异变得非常小。当施加初始应力时，钢轨轮轨接触中心的纵向残余压应力约为 500 MPa。残余压应力随着深度的增加而减小，并在钢轨轮轨接触中心以下 6 mm 深度处由压缩变为拉伸。轮载主要影响沿轨面下深度方向的残余应力分布。摩擦系数主要影响钢轨表面的残余应力分布。