Abstract: Accurate calculation of the component stresses is a basis of correct reliability analysis of a railway wheelset. An integral finite modeling is conducted for the powered wheelset of HXD2 locomotive. Effects of complicated physical contact relations are taken into account due to the multi-interference fits, wheel-track macro-contacts, and bearing roller-raceways micro-contacts in the wheelset. Stress gradient effects are considered to reasonably mesh the fits, contacts, and geometrically related component solids. Two steps policy are proposed including entire calculation of wheelset and then local calculation of bearing related part. And non-solution problem in an acceptable time is solved when applying the step length matching the micro-contacts between bearing rollers-raceways for full wheelset. The entire calculation is performed using virtual bearings with an equivalent rigidity but without micro-contacts. The local calculation is done, under a bearing rollers-raceways restoring to true micro-contacts, and the local part close to one side of the axle cutting from the full wheelset, in which the strain vector on the cutting section of axle is used as constraints. Application practice indicates that the present modeling can be used to calculate the distributed stresses of components under the affecting of complicated physical contact relations and constraints in the wheelset.

Key words: locomotive;wheelset;finite element method;integrated analysis