Habibollah Molatefi - Assistant professor, School of railway engineering, Iran University of Science and Technology;
Hossein Yazdani - member of track machinery department, Iran Railway Research Center;
Amin Mazraeh - Research assistant, School of railway engineering, Iran University of Science and Technology;
Morad Shadfar - Ph.D student, School of railway engineering, Iran University of Science and Technology;

Wear of wheel and rail is defined as mechanical loss in contact surfaces of bodies under loading. This phenomenon is due to improper wheel-rail interaction. By considering economic aspects into railway operation, maintenance and repair became bold. An optimum selection for a wheel profile is a factor of track and fleet characteristics. In this study with respect to wear as an objective function, Iran rail network is studied statistically. With the help of rolling radius difference (RRD) diagram, EN13715 and computer simulation using Universal Mechanism (UM) software, an optimum wheel profile is selected. For determining efficiency of selected profile, a field test is planned. 6 open wagon equipped with H665-2 bogie is selected, 3 wagons use conventional S1002 and the others use newly selected wheel profile. The test is done for 56500 Km and measurements are done during test. The measured data are compared with current conventional S1002 wheel profile. The results show a noticeable reduction in total wheel wear and flange wear of selected optimum wheel profile.

Iran rail network, open wagon, Wheel profile, wear, field test