Residual stress analyses of repair welded rail with different hardening models

초록

Repair by arc welding is a well-known method for damaged rail surface recovery due to its ease of application. However, the repair welding is vulnerable to the creation of cracks because it may cause high residual stresses and accelerate fatigue problems in the head of rail. In the present study, a finite element (FE) model was introduced to predict residual stress distributions by considering the repair welding process. Subsequently, sensitivity analyses were carried out by incorporating three different material hardening models, and the residual stress profiles at the weld zone were compared. The magnitude of longitudinal residual stress with the kinematic model was observed approximately half of the isotropic model.