Railway rails accumulate large plastic deformations due to cyclic rolling contact loading. The plastic deformations alter the rail geometry, affect material behavior, and cause crack formation and growth. The complex interactions between these phenomena require high fidelity simulations to be understood. 3d finite element simulations are accurate, but their computational cost limits the possible number of simulated cycles. We propose a cyclic finite element simulation in which the wheel and rail remain in contact throughout the simulation. It uses periodic boundary conditions, shadow elements, and model reductions. Compared to previous work, it is 25 times faster. The method is available as an open-source plugin to Abaqus, enabling other researchers to study rolling contact loading coupled with large plastic deformations.

由于周期性的滚动接触载荷，铁轨会累积大量的塑性变形。塑性变形会改变钢轨的几何形状，影响材料的行为，并导致裂纹的形成和扩展。这些现象之间的复杂相互作用需要高保真度的模拟才能被理解。3d有限元模拟是准确的，但其计算成本限制了模拟循环的可能数量。我们提出了一个循环有限元模拟，其中在整个模拟过程中车轮和钢轨保持接触。它使用周期性边界条件，阴影元素和模型归约。与以前的工作相比，它快了25倍。该方法可作为Abaqus的开源插件使用，从而使其他研究人员能够研究滚动接触载荷以及较大的塑性变形。