STUDY AND ANALYSIS OF CRACK

PROPAGATION IN RAILWAY AXLE

USING SIMULATIONS
Project Participants:
Satish Kimar Singh- Student, IIT Mandi
Lovedeep Singh-Student, IIT Mandi

Project Mentored by:

Dr. Himanshu Pathak Dr. Rajeev Kumar
Assistant Professor, SE Associate Professor, SE
IIT Mandi IIT Mandi

Major technical project chaired by

Dr. Rajesh Ghosh
Assistant Professor , SE
IIT Mandi
INTRODUCTION
Indian railways are one of the largest rail industry in Asia and it is fourth largest railway
network in the world comprising of more than 200,000kms of total track length and carrying
about 8.1billions passengers annually.
Railway axles are very important part of a passenger or freight railway car. It is a mainly a shaft
for rotating wheels. It is mainly used to transfer the whole weight of vehicle to wheels and meet
the critical longitudinal and transverse load during cyclic loading. Railway axles are subjected to
cyclic loading during their course. So there is always a chance of fatigue failure. They are one of
the most critical components of railway as well because their failure can lead to derailment and
major loss of functionality and human lives. The first reported accident caused by a broken axle
occurred on 8th May 1842.
Axles are typically made from various alloy steels. For manufacturing of axle with high strength
typically carbon steel with Mn, Ni, Cr and V as alloying elements are used. Derailments are
mostly due to fatigue failure of the axles. The critical regions of the railway axle susceptible to
fatigue failure are situated around the wheel seat, brake disc seat, labyrinth seal seat, and the
axle fillet. Due to turning, bending, and braking of the train, the axles experience bending
stresses, which are converted into compressive stresses and tensile stresses on the surface,
which nucleate micro cracks. The cracks propagate with increased stresses and when the
critical crack length is exceeded, there is final rupture of the axle. If these cracks are not
detected timeously, catastrophic failures could occur.
In this report, we will be discussing different methods that can be used to simulate the railway
axle in FEM package and further analysing the axle under different loading conditions and
shapes. We will also be discussing the basic fracture mechanics methods that are employed in
the study of the axle.

LITERATURE REVIEW
The study of the axle crack propagation mechanics can be categorized by use of the assumptions
during the studies. Broadly, two types of models are present to study the crack propagation and
analysis. These two are models based on Linear Elastic Fracture Mechanics(LEFM) and Elasto
Plastic Fracture Mechanics(EPFM).
There has been a lot of study in field of study of railway axle using LEFM theory. The studies
proceeds with the assumption that the material is isotropic and linear elastic. Work by Hamid
and Kamran[1] concluded that the surface discontinuities plays and important part in deciding
the life of the axle. They concluded that it takes at average 5x109 cycles for an axle to break.
Furthermore, working on a initial 2um, they concludes that higher the crack size is , higher is
rate of growth of the crack. Beretta and Carboni[2] , also studied crack growth and came up with
the hypothesis that semi elliptical cracks are observed in the axle under corrosive conditions.
Beretta and Carboni[3] also worked on the 30NiCrMoV12 high strength steel and performed
constant amplitude test on the axle while used AFGROW and NASGRO along with emprical
EPFM concepts to conclude that results can be predicted for 0.3xprincipal stress for LEFM and
upto 0.6xPS for EPFM at R values of -1.
However the work in field of EPFM is limited as of now and we will be following this method to
investigate the crack in railway axle for our purpose.
OBJECTIVE
 Using EPFM model to investigate the crack growth on basic model.
 The basic model is replicated on axle model under different loadings and the
number of cycles to failure because of the crack propagation.
 Analysis of the model under different modified shape and finding number of
cycles.
 Validation of the data by comparing with numerical data.
METHODOLOGY
-

1. USING EPFM MODEL TO INVESTIGATE THE CRACK GROWTH ON BASIC MODEL

 A simple model of rectangular plate is made.
 Crack is introduced at the edge and crack propagation is studied at different
loading.
 XFEM is used in the analysis of the crack propagation.
 Different loads are found out and the failure load is noted.
 Natural frequency comparison is made for the cracked and the un-cracked material.

2. REPLICATION ON AXLE MODEL UNDER DIFFERENT LOADINGS AND THE NUMBER OF

CYCLES TO FAILURE BECAUSE OF THE CRACK PROPAGATION.
 The basic model of plate is replicated on the axle model with introduction of the
fatigue loading at different points
 The results are documented and verified with the numerical data.

3. ANALYSIS OF THE MODEL UNDER DIFFERENT MODIFIED SHAPES AND FINDING NUMBER
OF CYCLES.
 Different modified shapes are subjected to simulation in XFEM package and the
results are documented
 The results are compared for different shapes and most efficient shape is proposed .

4. VALIDATION OF THE RESULTS WITH THE NUMERICAL DATA

 The results are compared with the standard numerical results, as already calculated
by the researchers.
 WORKPLAN

Understanding of the problem statement

August

September Gathering information about the existing mechanisms

October Designing of basic model

November Study of crack propagation in basic plate model using ABAQUS XFEM package

February Replication of the model over Axle model and introduction of the fatigue loadings

March Study of different axle model at different loadings and documenting the results

April Study of the different shapes of axle model and documenting the results

May Comparison and validations of the results

WORK-DONE
1.Rectangular Plate demonstration
Pertaining to objective 1 , ABAQUS model were made to demonstrate the crack failure and
propagation. Some screenshot of the ABAQUS model are as follows.

Screenshot 1
Screenshot 2
Frequency Comparison: After that , the frequency comparison of the cracked and un-cracked
versions of the plate are made. The frequency comparison are as follows:

1. Natural frequency Un-cracked.

2. Cracked Plate frequency.

3. Table for Natural frequency uncracked.

4.Table for Cracked plate frequency.
For now, it can be concluded for the cracked material , the frequency differs from the natural
frequency of the natural material providing us the base for the detection of the crack.
2.Analysis of frequency of Shaft
After demonstration of frequency variation on Rectangular plate , we moved onto frequency
variation analysis in axle Shaft. For the analysis a low meshed model of shaft was prepared in
ABAQUS.

5.Model of Shaft in ABAQUS.

A 2D crack is introduced in the shaft and the frequency of the shaft is analysed for cracked and
normal shaft. The result are summarized in following tables.

6. Frequency table for Normal shaft

7.Frequency table for cracked Shaft

The results are presented in graphs as follows:

8.Natural Frequency for Normal Shaft

9.Frequency for Cracked Shaft

After analysis of graphs we can clearly see the variation of frequency in normal and cracked
shaft. This frequency change can be basis of detection of cracks in shaft.
REFERENCES
http://www.ijemr.net/DOC/DefectsInWheelsAndAxlesAndDetection(176-180)707b2e1c-f510-
4a90-ac8e-bb7c7d8932e9.pdf
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Axle
http://www.structuralintegrity.eu/pdf/esis/TC/24/Combined%203%20March%202011%20p
resentations.pdf
https://s3.amazonaws.com/academia.edu.documents/33657856/33.pdf?AWSAccessKeyId=AK
IAIWOWYYGZ2Y53UL3A&Expires=1504809121&Signature=qBSec2aNVzeMY6J%2B89e1eY6Fn
00%3D&response-content-
disposition=attachment%3B%20filename%3DA_Stress_Analysis_on_Railway_Axle_With_F.pdf
http://www.iricen.gov.in/iricen/ipwe_seminar/2011/r_s_kannan.pdf
http://www.ijmer.com/papers/vol2_issue3/DS2312631266.pdf
http://ijsetr.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/IJSETR-VOL-4-ISSUE-6-2293-2302.pdf