Effects of conformal wheel/rail contact modelling on the dynamic responses of a wheelset

This paper investigates the effects of conformal wheel/rail contact modelling on the dynamic responses of a wheelset through a series of specially designed benchmark exercises. Five contact models were used: DynaRail, basic and advanced approaches in Simpack, and two approaches in CONTACT, implemented online in multibody simulation. Despite the difference in the representation of wheel/rail contact, the models produced comparable results regarding the overall system behaviour under low conformal contact conditions. Significant variations were observed in contact-related output channels. These findings suggest that while overall forces for conformal contacts can be approximated reasonably well using a proper planar contact model, more substantial differences are obtained in local outcomes. These discrepancies, particularly in the stress distribution, have critical implications for the simulation of wear and damage phenomena.