Upcoming Events

ICRI Webinar: Thermal initiation of squats under vehicle braking. Date: February 26, 2025. Time: 7:00 AM PST, 10:00 AM EST, 3:00 PM GMT, 4:00 PM CET

Presenter: Samuel Hawksbee (University of Huddersfield, UK).

Squats are the most commonly recorded rail defect on several national rail networks, including the UK. Several initiation mechanisms have been proposed for the defects including thermal transformation of the steel at the rail surface into a brittle martensite phase. The conditions required to produce sufficiently high flash temperatures at the wheel-rail interface for this transformation are investigated.  Analysis of squat records on a short track section has previously shown that squats maybe more common on track sections where braking is expected. The potential thermal initiation of squats under vehicle braking combined with rapidly changing adhesion conditions are studied in this paper. Firstly, the performance of a typical Wheel Slide Protection (WSP) system is simulated for a range of rapidly varying conditions. The WSP control is integrated within a multi-body simulation package able to simulate the vehicle dynamics on straight track and integrated with a library of adhesion conditions. The resulting simulations allowed creepages and adhesion levels along the rail to be determined. Rail surface temperatures are estimated via analytical model and thus potential transformation of rail material to martensite during braking can be investigated. The sensitivity of the results to different contact shapes and pressures is also described. Unlike previous studies, the focus of the current work is vehicle braking rather than acceleration.

WRI 2025 Heavy Haul Conference. Kansas City, USA; June 10-20, 2025

The 30th Anniversary of the Wheel Rail Interaction Conference is split into tow events. WRI 2025 Heavy Haul Conference is specifically tailored for the heavy haul (freight) sector, focusing on the unique challenges and advancements in this area of the railroad industry. WRI 2025 Heavy Haul Conference will be held in Kansas City, MO from June 10-12, 2025.

For more information see here.

WRI 2025 Rail Transit Conference. Seattle USA; August 26-28, 2025

Now in its 30th year, Wheel Rail Seminars is thrilled to announce some exciting developments for the upcoming WRI Conference in 2025! To better cater to the diverse needs of our attendees, the WRI Conference will split into two specialized conferences. WRI 2025 Rail Transit Conference is devoted to examining wheel/rail and vehicle/track interaction on light rail and subway operations. The WRI 2025 Rail Transit Conference will be held in Seattle, WA from August 26-28, 2025.

For more information please see here.

13th International Conference on Contact Mechanics and Wear of Rail/Wheel Systems (CM2025) in Tokyo/Japan, September 22 – September 26.

First conference Information and conference webpage online: http://www.cm2025.jscmr.org/

Call for papers is open and is extended to March 3rd 2025.