Analysis of Residual, Thermal, and Loading Stresses in a B33 Wheel and Their Relationship to Fatigue Damage

Abstract

The current General Electric computer study sponsored by The American Iron and Steel Institute, discussed at the ASME Railroad Division 1965 Winter Meeting, has the objective of determining the most favorable geometric configuration to minimize service stresses. This present investigation involves the corollary problem of service loading conditions that produce the highest stresses and the possibility of fatigue damage. Static loading, rim heating, residual stress measurements, and fatigue tests were made in the laboratory on representative B33 wheels. A series of simulated loading conditions was studied and the resulting stresses combined by simple superposition principles. The resultant stress patterns were compared with fatigue test results using the modified Goodman relationship. In this way the service loading conditions that produce fatigue damage may be predicted.