Abstract Severe wheel rolling contact fatigue (RCF) has been observed on two types of high-power AC locomotives with CO-CO axle arrangement and running in complicated environments in China. This RCF occurs as continuous lateral surface cracks in the zone approximately centered at the nominal rolling circle of wheels and can propagate downward up to 14.5 mm deep. To figure out the causes, field observations, monitoring tests and numerical simulations have been conducted in the past years together with systematic comparisons between two types of locomotives. Statistics have shown an interesting phenomenon, among others, that wheels on axles 3 and 4 are most susceptible to RCF cracks on Type B locomotives, but not so on Type A. It has been found that complicated running environments such as sharp curves and large slopes are the root causes of RCF. The axle load transfer among axles, which is aggravated by oblique traction rods, and inappropriate electrical compensation, and the curving behavior determine the axle preference of RCF on Type B locomotives. This explains the phenomenon that similar RCF damage has not been reported on Type B locomotives running in mild environments. At the end, the electrical compensation is optimized numerically with a purpose of easing RCF damage of Type B locomotives.

中文翻译：

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轴荷传递对斜牵引大功率交流机车车轮滚动接触疲劳的影响

摘要 我国在复杂环境下运行的两种CO-CO轴布置的大功率交流机车均出现严重的车轮滚动接触疲劳（RCF）。该 RCF 作为连续横向表面裂纹出现在大约以车轮名义滚动圆为中心的区域中，并且可以向下扩展至 14.5 毫米深。为查明原因，过去几年进行了实地观察、监测试验和数值模拟，并系统比较了两种类型的机车。统计显示了一个有趣的现象，其中B型机车3、4轴的车轮最容易出现RCF裂纹，而A型机车则不然。 已经发现，在急弯、大坡度等复杂运行环境中是 RCF 的根本原因。斜拉杆和不适当的电气补偿加剧了车桥之间的轴载传递，弯曲行为决定了RCF在B型机车上的车轴偏好。这解释了在温和环境中运行的 B 型机车没有报告类似 RCF 损坏的现象。最后，对电气补偿进行数值优化，以减轻 B 型机车的 RCF 损坏。