Vibrations induced by surface roughness in nonlinear rolling contacts

Sammanfattning: For efficient transportation in either trains, busses or passenger cars, rolling elements such as wheels, tyres, bearings and transmission elements are fundamental. The energy efficiency and the generation of noise and vibrations in rolling contacts depend on the surface roughness of contacting bodies. In order to optimize the surfaces of rolling elements, prediction of its impact on the dynamic response from rolling excitation is required. A computationally efficient method to include surface roughness in the modelling of rolling contacts is presented. More specifically, nonlinear effects on the contact force due to the threedimensional shape and roughness of the contacting surfaces are introduced in a moving point force formulation. As a consequence of the point force approximation follows the assumption that any dynamic wave motion within the contact area is negligible.The rolling contact force is nonlinear due to a varying relative displacement between contacting bodies and is therefore referred to as state-dependent. A study case for the state-dependent method consisting of a steel ball rolling on a steel beam showed good agreement between numerical predictions and measured beam vibrations. Furthermore, an application to the wheel-rail interaction show that roughness-induced contact nonlinearities have a significant impact on the dynamic response caused by rolling excitation.