Energy-Efficient Four-Roll Rail Rolling Technology

Abstract

This article concerns the development of an energy-efficient technology for rolling one of the most complex (from the standpoint of plastic strain) rail profiles – the grooved tramrail. A new technology which makes efficient use of the roll forces in the horizon plane is proposed. This technology makes it possible to obtain a balanced four-roll pass with equality of the roll forces that are due to compression by the vertical rollers. The results of computer modeling and a full-scale experiment with evaluation of the stress and strain intensity distributions and the roll forces in four-roll rail passes are presented. Plots of the distribution of the roll forces due to the vertical rollers are obtained and the mathematical relations for finding them are determined. The adequacy of the mathematical modeling is evaluated by comparing the obtained data and the full-scale results.