Controlling the State of Residual Stresses in Railway Rails by Modifying Pass Design of Straightening Rollers

The paper presents a summary of research on the possibility of influencing the state of residual stresses in railway rails by changing the pass design of vertical and horizontal straightener rollers and optimising their distribution on the rail perimeter. The presented results are devoted to the influence of profiled rollers on the level of residual stresses. A wide range of theoretical considerations were carried out based on the use of the finite element method using the commercial Forge software package. In order to verify the results of the theoretical considerations most reliably, a series of “in situ” experiments were conducted in industrial conditions on an existing production line. The tests were carried out on 120 meters long 60E1 railway rails. A significant reduction in the level of residual stresses compared to the standard requirements was achieved.