Study on flange climb derailment criteria of a railway wheelset

The wheel flange climb derailment, which can be usually considered as a quasi-static process, is one of the main types of derailment, and often occurs on curved tracks due to large wheel lateral force and reduced vertical force. The general formula for the wheel critical derailment coefficient Q/P, the ratio of wheel lateral force to vertical force, is derived through analysing the forces exerted on the flange climb wheel. Based on the Coulomb's friction law and the creep force laws, the Friction Formula and Creep Formula for the evaluation of derailment are derived, respectively. The analysis shows that the derailment coefficients of Friction Formula and Creep Formula required for derailment are increased considerably for smaller and negative yaw angles, and tend to the value of Nadal's Formula at larger wheelset yaw angles. The Creep Formula is more reasonable for the assessment of derailment. The effect of some parameters on flange climb derailment, such as wheel/rail friction coefficient, yaw angle, flange contact angle, wheel vertical load and curve radius, are investigated. Finally, a simplified formula for wheel climb derailment based on the Creep Formula is proposed.