Rolling contact fatigue (RCF) cracks that generate in the wheel and rail surfaces are one of the most important problems in the railway industry. In this paper, a finite element (FE) model for the analysis of RCF cracks has been worked out. The model consists of FE analyses that account of the local material response generated by the contact load between wheel and rail. The full contact conditions were solved in the analysis by employing constraints in the simulation of the contact between wheel and rail models. Combined isotropic and kinematic hardening law was used to model the decaying hardening rate that was important in RCF. Stresses and strains that were obtained from FE analyses were combined with the multi-axial fatigue life model and the critical plane approach to predict fatigue crack initiation life in rail head. The calculated results were compared to the data obtained from the investigation in the field and discussions were made.

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