Rolling Contact Fatigue and Wear of Rails and Wheels; A Comprehensive Review

Rolling contact fatigue (RCF) and wear are the primary types of damage found in rails and wheels, and these often compete with each other. This paper presents a comprehensive review of studies on RCF and wear of rails and wheels, focusing on their competition. First, RCF and wear in actual rails and wheels were discussed. Then, theory and models for RCF cracks were presented—from crack initiation, followed by short crack and long crack growth to crack branching and the branch crack growth. Then, different wear forms, wear regimes, and their theories and models were introduced. Several papers dealing with the competition between RCF and wear were discussed. Finally, current gaps or problems of the studies on RCF and wear of rails and wheels were identified and provided recommendations for future work.