Assessment of a semi-Hertzian method for determination of wheel-rail contact patch

Wheel-rail contact calculations are essential for simulating railway vehicle dynamic behavior. Currently, these simulations usually use the Hertz contact theory to calculate normal forces and Kalker's 'FASTSIM' program to evaluate tangential stresses. Since 1996, new methods called semi-Hertzian have appeared: 5, 7 (STRIPES). These methods attempt to estimate the non-elliptical contact patches with a discrete extension of the Hertz theory. As a continuation of 2, a validation of the STRIPES method for normal problem computing on three test cases is proposed in this article. The test cases do not fulfill the hypothesis required for the Hertz theory. Then, the Kalker's FASTSIM algorithm is adapted to STRIPES patch calculus to perform tangential forces computation. This adaptation is assessed using Kalker's CONTACT algorithm.