In recent years, the rail system in the USA has been subjected to much heavier cars in comparison to those of the past. As a result, there are more fatigue failures of rail tracks. Welding of cracked and/or fractured rails has become essential to keep railways in service. Even more important is the fatigue performance of welded pieces of rails. The Association of American Railroads and Transportation Technology Center Incorporated has sponsored research programs with an objective to determine fatigue life of different types of welded rails such as thermite welds, electric-flash welds, and gas-flash welds. Fatigue testing has been performed on unwelded rails (base metal). The slide show below presents this fatigue testing.
If you are interested in this project or if you have any questions, please contact Gregory Banas at gbanas@uiuc.edu .
