Application of Wheel Wear Monitoring in Planning Train Maintenance

Wheel wear is a common problem in railway industry. Determination of the train wheel wear trend is very important in this industry, especially in subway system. That’s why; it is possible to have better maintenance planning by determining wheel wear trend. Comparison of obtained wear shows whether the wear condition will be acceptable or not, and will help to correct the direction characteristic and another parameters which are effective in wear. Life prediction is also important, so in different cases, such as wheel/rail, there are different criteria and methods for predicting the life of the components, being worn. In this paper, a method is proposed in order to determine and predict the wheel wear trend.. Determining this trend needs a complete databank of system wear condition. Therefore, in different logged distances, the wheel thickness of flange in the second line of Tehran subway was measured by gauge and by miniprof during thirty months. These information were imported to the prepared software, capable of fast and reliable processing of data. Our output data is flange wear rates in different periods and situations. By using these data, it will be possible to have better management on wheel maintenance and predict logged distance in which the wheels should be re-profiled and replaced. The period that the fleet will not be available for service can also be estimated. Meanwhile, the accuracy of results might be proved by comparing them with field measurements. Therefore, the wheel stock management parameters, wheel re-profiling and replacing timetable are obtained.