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Causes and failure forms of railway wheels

M.R.K. Vakkalagadda a, *, K.P. Vineesh b
a
School of Mechanical Engineering, VIT-AP University, Amaravati, Andhra Pradesh 522237, India
b
Department of Mechanical Engineering, National Institute of Technology Calicut, Kozhikode, 673601, India

A R T I C L E I N F O A B S T R A C T

Keywords: Railway wheels are a crucial part of the system, which provide necessary traction on railway tracks by carrying
Railway wheel cyclic loads. Therefore, it is important to understand the various failure mechanisms of railway wheel sets and
Failure the causes to prevent the failure for safety issues. All various railway wheel failures such as crack and rim, crack
Braking
at rim and disc interface, circumferential chipping-off, wheel tread shelling, thermal crack on wheel tread, wheel
And wheel crack
tread wear, fatigue, creep, wheel gauge widening, and wheel gauge condemning and their corresponding causes
also discussed in this manuscript. Further, it gives detailed wheel failure scenarios in tread and disc braking of
locomotive, wagon, and coach wheels. The in-depth details of various wheel failure sceneries observed and
analyzed from the field, and case studies are also reviewed in detail.

1. Introduction
Railway wheels are intensively loaded components while running
and experience mechanical and thermal loads during operation. Failure
of railway wheels also leads to severe damage to other components and
may lead to accidents. To ensure optimum safety, railway wheels must
be replaced with new wheels whenever a fracture or failure occurs.
Typically, railway wheels are made from medium carbon steel with the
percentage of carbon varying from 0.48 to 0.77. Along with carbon and
ferrous, railway wheels contain Silicon, Manganese, Phosphorus, Sulfur,
Chromium, Nickel, Vanadium, and Molybdenum etc. Railway wheels
are manufactured by two techniques (i) pressurized die casting and (ii)
forging. The casted wheels have the advantage of producing high vol­
umes in mass production and are cost-effective. On the other hand,
forged wheels can exhibit greater strength and load-carrying capacity.
Railway wheels are fabricated in shapes such as straight-plated, S-sha­
ped, and parabolic profiles. Further, they vary in diameter from 800 to
1100 mm. Fig. 1 shows the wheels, axle assembly, and various parts of
the railway wheel.
Railway wheels must undergo a heat treatment process after casting/
forging. Both casted and forged wheels undergo a heat treatment process
involving quenching, tempering, and air cooling at specified tempera­
tures and durations. This heat treatment helps in (i) relieving residual
stresses from wheels which are induced due to casting or forging, (ii)
inducing compressive residual stresses on the wheel rim region, which
acts as resistance towards crack growth, and (iii) increasing hardness of
the tread region, which mitigates wheel wear on tread region due to the
continuous contact with the rail. After the heat treatment, wheels un­
dergo interference with the axle. These mounted wheels and axles will
be used for regular service and undergo maintenance at regular in­
tervals. During maintenance, railway wheel profiles are monitored and
re-profiled until their diameter reaches a prescribed value per safety
guidelines.
Railway wheels need to sustain for their lifetime. Therefore, any
reduction in the lifetime of railway wheels must be considered seriously,
and route causes must be identified. A regular worn-out wheel due to
continuous contact with the rail and subsequent condemnation till the
end of a lifetime is common in railway wheels. Apart from it, many
factors such as operating conditions (axle load, braking loads, type of
braking, running speed, and frequency of braking), braking material,
maintenance, and environmental conditions also play a crucial role
causing failures. The present manuscript gives a detailed view of all
possible failures of railway wheels and their causes.
2. Railway wheel failures
2.1. Wheel wear
A continuous traction/friction contact of the railway wheel with rail,
frictional braking of wheels using brake blocks in tread braked wheels,
and the contact of the flange region with rail while turning on the curves
causes unavoidable wear on tread and flange regions. The traction with

* Corresponding author.
E-mail address: ravindra.btw@gmail.com (M.R.K. Vakkalagadda).

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.matpr.2023.09.161
Received 20 July 2023; Received in revised form 16 September 2023; Accepted 20 September 2023
2214-7853/Copyright © 2024 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Selection and peer-review under responsibility of the scientific committee of the Second International
Conference on Advances in Mechanical Engineering and Material Science.

Please cite this article as: M.R.K. Vakkalagadda, K.P. Vineesh, Materials Today: Proceedings, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.matpr.2023.09.161
M.R.K. Vakkalagadda and K.P. Vineesh
rail or frictional braking on the tread causes the wear on the tread, and
contact of rail and flange during a curved path leads to wear on the
flange [1] (Fig. 2). Tread and flange wear depends on wheel-rail traction
characteristics, the friction of brake blocks, tonnage per axle, dry/wet
condition, operating speeds, and track curvature. Various researchers
performed experiments to understand and quantitatively estimate the
wear and influence of various train running parameters. Table 1 gives
consolidated results of important research reports and estimated wear.
2.2. Cracks on railway wheels
The development of cracks on railway wheels can be due to various
reasons. Cracks can be of different sizes and may develop further to
larger sizes under real conditions. Cracks could be (i) thermal cracks on
the tread, (ii) cracks on the wheel rim, and (iii) cracks at the rim-disc
interface. The crack initiation and propagation phenomena are more
critical and severe in the case of tread braked railway wheels. By the end
of heat treatment during manufacturing, compressive residual stresses
are induced on the wheel tread region to resist the crack formation. The
service-induced residual stresses in tread braking turn these compressive
hoop stresses into tensile, which leads to favorable conditions for crack
growth. These service-induced residual stresses (which lead to tensile
hoop stresses) depend on the number of heating and cooling cycles
occurred in tread braking.
The combination of alternated loads, service-induced tensile stresses
on the outer part of the railway wheel, and tangential forces due to
rolling contact can cause cracks in railway wheels [7]. The earlier
research showed that the probability of tread cracks increases after 100
braking events [7,8]. Therefore, the combination of tread braking
thermal stresses and rolling contact is more predominant in causing
these tread cracks. Further, earlier research results [9] show that severe
drag braking, malfunctioning of brake blocks, non-uniformity in
braking, and improper maintenance will induce serious thermal stresses
on the tread region. These high tensile stresses with repeated mechanical
loading on railway wheels cause the propagation of pre-existing cracks,
which can penetrate larger depths and may cause large-scale cracks on
rim and disc regions. Fig. 3 shows the thermal cracks observed on the
railway wheel on the tread region and penetrated into the disc region.
2.3. Fatigue failure of railway wheels
High magnitude of cyclic mechanical loads in railway wheels can
cause accumulation of plastic deformation. If the accumulated plastic
strain increases beyond the material’s ductility, it will cause ratcheting
and subsequent crack formation [10] (Fig. 4). This crack formation
typically happens on running surfaces like wheel tread regions [11,12].
Fig. 1. Railway axle and wheels assembly.
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These fatigue cracks will further flow in the direction of plastic defor­
mation and propagate along the radial direction of the wheel. Further,
they may also propagate along the circumferential direction and may
cause material separation at a larger scale [13].
Service-induced tensile residual stresses and fatigue cause serious
cracks and propagation of the same in the radial direction and may
become further dangerous. If ignored, this combination of mechanical
and thermal stresses can cause serious surface cracks and lead to
dangerous situations. In some cases, pre-existing cracks or defects and
fatigue may cause intense cracks of a higher magnitude. However, the
appropriate chemical composition of material with good mechanical
properties and consistent braking may reduce the intensity of fatigue
cracks to an extent. The effect of sulfur percentage on fatigue crack
growth was studied by [14] and the results showed the increase in sulfur
percentage from 0.002% to 0.008% exhibited negligible effect on tensile
properties and hardness but significantly improved fatigue crack growth
resistance and fracture toughness. Further, recent studies showed that
the microstructure also can significantly influence the fatigue crack
growth [15]. In some cases, cracks may generate inside the surface of the
railway wheel, which is the most dangerous type. In rare cases, corrosion
also may lead to crack generation, followed by fatigue failure.
2.4. Railway wheel flats
Whenever a sliding (100% slippage) exists between the wheel and
rail, a huge heat generation will occur at the wheel and rail interface.
This high heat generation will lead to a sharp rise in wheel tread tem­
perature at a localized region where the slippage occurred. Upon
releasing the wheel, rapid cooling takes place. This sudden rise and
rapid cooling will lead to the formation of unstable Martensite [16]. This
unstable and highly brittle Martensite will lead to crack initiation. As a
result, wheel flats are more predominant in the cases of high slippages
and wheel locking.
2.5. Wheel gauge widening/Condemning
The wheel gauge of railway wheels needs to be maintained between
prescribed limits (see Fig. 1). If the wheel gauge comes below the lower
limit, referred to as wheel gauge condemning, and above the upper limit,
it will be considered as wheel gauge widening. As per the earlier reports
of [17–30], wheel condemning is a temporary phenomenon observed
during braking, and wheel (gauge) widening is a permanent phenome­
non observed once wheels come to room temperature. Still, there were
few permanent gauge condemning reported cases also [30]. Non-
uniformity in braking due to various operational reasons, non-
uniformity in friction materials used for tread braking, the excess heat
M.R.K. Vakkalagadda and K.P. Vineesh
Fig. 2. Wear profile on tread region and flange region (wear at turnings due to contact with rail) from [1].
Table 1
Consolidated research studies of wheel and rail wear studies from Literature.
Reported research results
Experimentally studied the effect of contact conditions on wheel and
rail wear. It was observed that higher contact pressure and lower
tangential speeds lead to higher wear volume
Estimated the wheel wear using multibody dynamics. The results
showed that the inclination angle of wheel tread region and average
vehicle speed showed significant influence on wear.
Developed a tool to predict the wheel wear behavior while travelling
on a realistic track with curvatures. The developed model can suggest
optimized conditions to minimize the wear and corresponding
maintenance
Effect of irregularities in the rail joints and impact loading on the wear
of wheels was practically evaluated. The results showed a significant
effect of these two parameters on wear.
Experimentally estimated the wear volume for high speed rail vehicles
and estimated the effect of speed and tonnage on wear. Results
showed that wear volume reduced with increase in speed and
increased with increase in tonnage. Further, developed safety zones
to avoid wear and fatigue at rail-wheel contact.
input from drag braking, frequent brakes, and improper maintenance
are the major reasons for a wheel gauge widening [21–24]. In addition,
the service-induced residual stresses adding on to residual stresses
existing at the end of manufacturing leads to a scenario where wheels
experiences gauge widening [25–27]. The below Table gives compre­
hensive results of various literature reports.
Reported research results
Developed a model to estimate heat dissipation into wheels during
stop and drag braking. Further, evaluated heat entering in wheels
during tread braking two types of brake blocks used by Indian
Railways.
Developed a finite element model (FEM) to understand the wheel
running temperatures accurately. The developed model was
validated with field studies. Further, using FEM identified the
underlying mechanism for the wheel gauge widening.
Studied the effect of the type of brake block used, the profile of the
wheel, and drag/stop braking on gauge widening.
Estimated non-uniformity in braking and corresponding temperature
rise in coach wheelsets through field studies.
Studied both effects, such as widening and condemning in parabolic
locomotive wheels.
Studied the wheel failure due to widening/condemning in coach
wheels used by Indian railways. Further, the effect of re-profiling on
gauge change was also studied.
(continued on next column)
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(continued )
Reported research results References
Studied the non-uniformity arising due to the lateral shift in the brake [30]
References
along with corresponding effect of gauge change in wheels.
[2] Studied the gauge change in freight wheel sets used by Indian [31] & [32]
Railways.
[3]
To improve strength and toughness of the railway wheels, [33] sug­
gested a better railway wheel composition with higher amounts of sili­
[4]
con & manganese and lower content of chromium. The suggested
material has 0.93 wt% of of silicon & manganese, 0.04 wt% of chro­
mium. The suggested material has exhibited more than 4% increase in
[5] yield and tensile strengths. Experiment results of [34] shown a better
fatigue crack growth resistance observed in railway wheels with
[6] increased sulfur percentage. Slide wear in railway materials after laser
cladding was studied by [34], the laser cladding has shown significant
effect on improving the sliding wear properties.
3. Conclusions
• Railway wheels experience various types of failures such as wear,
cracks, fatigue, flats, and wheel gauge widening/ condemning.
• Wear on wheel tread is a continuous and unavoidable phenomenon
that requires continuous maintenance to maintain a wheel profile.
This wear leads to a gradual reduction of the wheel diameter over the
life span. Upon reaching a condemning limit of diameter, the wheel
References needs to be removed completely
• Railway wheels experience cracks at several locations, such as tread,
[17–21]
rim, and disc. These could be a combination of service-induced re­
sidual stresses along with thermal cracks.
• Fatigue cracks are more dangerous and may lead to complete wheel
[22] & [23]
failure and cause serious damage. In addition, the ratcheting of
wheels may cause fatigue failure.
• Locking of railway wheels or higher slippages may lead to the for­
[24] mation of Martensite and leads to wheel flats.
• A non-uniformity in breaking/excess heat input due to drag braking
[25–27]
or malfunctioning of the braking system and tensile residual stresses
[28] on the outer rim may lead to a permanent wheel gauge widening.
Wheel gauge condemning is also possible at higher wheel running
[29] temperatures.
CRediT authorship contribution statement
M.R.K. Vakkalagadda: Writing – review & editing, Writing –
3
M.R.K. Vakkalagadda and K.P. Vineesh
Fig. 3. (a) Thermal cracks on tread region developed on actual railway wheel [7], (b) Wider crack propagation on tread region [8].
Fig. 4. (a) Cracks on surface of railway wheel due to fatigue [10] and (b) corrosion induced fatigue failure [15].
original draft, Supervision, Methodology, Investigation, Formal anal­
ysis, Conceptualization. K.P. Vineesh: Resources, Methodology, Inves­
tigation, Formal analysis, Conceptualization.
Declaration of Competing Interest
The authors declare that they have no known competing financial
interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence
the work reported in this paper.
Data availability
No data was used for the research described in the article.
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