CASE STUDY REGARDING THE CHAIN EXCAVATOR

Ionel Popescu1, Radu Mihai Negriu2, Cristinel Besleaga2, Sorin George Badea2, Mihai Stefanescu2

Industrial Biogas Solutions, Rokura Group, Bucharest, Romania Econet Prod Bucharest, Romania

2 1

ic.popescu@yahoo.com; 2econetprod@mail.com; 2cristibesleaga@yahoo.com

Abstract: The chain excavator is the main technological part of a cleaning machine
which is used for technological operation of maintenance of the railway. The purposes of his subassembly are to excavate the crushed stone (ballast) from the railway, under the sleeper and to transport of this to the screen where will be cleaned, sorted and reused. The chain excavator is loaded to bending, abrasive wear, shock, tension and another stresses. Due of these stresses, the chain excavator has defects like fractures, fatigue, wear and another. These defects can lead to a dangerous malfunction, defects or immobilizations of the cleaning machine with dangers (risks) for safety work and important loses of productivity and value. In this paper we will establish and present the stress system, the wear zones and some defects and fractures of elements which compound the chain excavator. Another important novelty will be analyze with FEM using CAD some extreme cases by stresses and the comparison the conclusions of this analyze with experimental conclusions in situ. Effects of some type of usual defects are analyzed.

Key words: chain excavator, cleaning railway machine, stresses, fracture, fatigue, wear,
FEM, CAD.

1.

INTRODUCTION
The technical conditions for exploiting the railway in utmost safety and 1

comfort, require a certain constructive structure of prism from ballast (crushed stone), which must have elasticity and permeability qualities (Fig.1, pos. 1, 2, 3). Also, the rail- sleeper system must have certain geometry (dimensions, shapes, positions) not only in the transversal section, but also in the longitudinal one.

Figure 1.Transversal section of the railway: 1- soil; 2- under lairs of sand and gravel; 3- ballast (crushed stone); 4- sleeper; 5- rail (the main wire); 6- protection panel with multiple roles (phonic, safety); s- super elevation

The crushed stone starts to degrade because of physical and natural phenomena, leading to the clogging and contamination of the crushed stone prism. Some of these phenomena are: the friction between the surface and the edges of the crushed stones, under the effects of loadings and displacements, which leads to the appearance of wear particles; the variation in temperature between the natural cycles of freezing and thawing, which leads to the cracking and breaking (shredding) of the stones; the depositing of solid particles which are in suspension in the air or the leaking of materials from the wagons; the humidity and precipitations under the form of rain and snow which lead to washing, displacement, depositing and concentration of small and fine particles in clogging phenomenon and s.a. The contamination or clogging of the crushed stone prism over a certain clogging degree (>30%) has unfavorable/unwanted effects over the railway properties. Through the mechanical operations of screening of the crushed stone and the removal of waste from the crushed stone prism the elasticity and

3 permeability qualities are reestablished, obtaining important technical and economical advantages [1]. The technological operation by cleaning of the ballast prism is made by the ballast cleaning machine. The chain excavator takes the ballast bed material from the track. In figure 2 is presented a cleaning railway machine. This type of the excavation chain uses five exchangeable scraper fingers. The chain links are made of high-alloy steel (Fig. 3).

Figure 2.Ballast cleaning machine

Figure 3.Chain excavator

The high-alloy steel is made from 120Mn12 or TMn13. The main

characteristics are: C= 1,25-1,40%; Mn= 12,5-14,5%; S= 0,50-1,10%; Cr= max.1%; Ni= max.0,50%; P= max.0,11%; S=max.0,05%; c = 250- 400 [N/mm2]; r = 800- 1000 [N/mm2]; A5 = 40- 55%; Z= 35- 40%; KCU 30/2= 20- 30; 180- 220 [HB].

2.

ANALYZE OF THE BEHAVIOR OF THE ELEMENTS OF THE CHAIN

To perform this analysis we used data gathered from maintenance activities for 5 years where were used 6 ballast cleaning machine and were reconditioned 1000 km of railway. In general, in normal conditions, in the ballast there are no foreign objects and waste deposits. In these conditions, the stress that is produced in elements from the chain is not harmful to the chain integrity. From the analysis of the way the deterioration of the chains elements occurred, resulted the following: a. In the contact zone between the surfaces of the chains elements with the ballast prism, the stones forming the wall behind the chain excavator have a wear-like action on the metallic elements of the chain which is in motion. If the contact between the metallic elements and the stone is made through a corner or a sharp edge, in favorable stress conditions, a cutting type phenomenon occurs, that leads to the removal of a portion of the metal. This removal of metallic material will produce a scratch, whose dimensions will depend on several factors (Fig. 4). The scratch may act like a tension accumulator, with corresponding consequences on the maximum tension state of the analyzed area, or it may contain a crack/micro crack. In the interior of the scratch, it is possible that micro cracks may exist which in favorable conditions can evolve over time. The wear phenomenon has been previously studied by the authors [2-5]. b. If the contact takes place on larger surfaces and is smaller in intensity then a normal wear phenomenon occurs (Fig.5), which reduces over time the dimensions of the metallic elements that form the chain (Fig.10). c. Wear can also appear at the contact between the metallic elements that form the chain. In this type of joint, the dust (dry or wet), in the beginning having the dimensions of a very small particle, enters in between the moving elements (Fig.5, 6, 7). During the movement time, the wear phenomenon increases the space between moving elements so larger rock particle may enter. In this way, the wear phenomenon continues faster and faster.

Figure 4.Wear of the elements of the chain by micro cutting

Figure 5.Normal wear of the elements of the chain, on the contact surfaces (sliding)

Figure 6.The chain excavator where there are deposits of particles that favor wear

Figure 7.The chain excavator where there are deposits of particles that favor wear

d. Wear at the corner of scrapers. The scrapers have a conic shape with a corner at the end. The contact between the scrapers and the crushed stone produces wear, which leads to the increasing of the corners radius (Fig.8).

Figure 8.Wear of the scrapers

e. Fracture of the metallic elements of the chain. This phenomenon has been observed in the connecting chain links and scraper shovels, also. (Fig. 9, 10).

Figure 9.Fracture of elements of the chain (connecting chain links)

Figure 10.Fracture of elements of the chain (scraper shovel)

In general, the majority of fractures occur in the bolt assembling area. From analyzing the fractures, we observed: - the fractures occur in the case of a overloads determined by foreign elements in the ballast or by stones from the ballast which are united (glued together or clogging) by dust mixed with water, oil and s.a.; - the fractures appeared only in areas of high wear in the presence of concentrators leading to the decreasing of dimensions in the assembling bolt areas (Fig.4, 5 and 10); - when the fracture didnt occur in an area with high wear, the structure of the material was analyzed and we noticed structure defects in the material (Fig. 9); - the fracture does not occur in normal functioning conditions; - the wear is at an acceptable level in normal functioning conditions.

3.

THE ANALISES WITH FINITE ELEMENTS

Two situations where analyzed: the normal functioning situation (chap.3.1.); the overload situation, in the case where the overload acts in the least favorable position (chap.3.2.). The chain was modeled using the AutoDesk Inventor program. There where modeled 2 connecting chain links, one scarper shovel, two bolts and five scrapers. In the modeling, we neglected the constructive details and the series of design elements that did not contribute neither to the increase nor the decrease of the equivalent tensions which do not influence the stress state, these being considered to have only a technological role. We also neglected the connecting radius from the model [6, 7]. Because the maximum equivalent tensions are not in these areas, this approximation does not lead to errors in the simulation. The design was approached in this way because any additional surface in the model leads to a bigger number of finite elements. A big number of finite elements require an unjustified consumption of resources during the simulation. The model used in the simulation is described in Fig.11, 12.

Figure 11.Modeling of the elements of chain excavator

Figure 12.Meshing of the elements of chain excavator

The simulation of the stress states using the finite element method was realized using the Ansys Workbench 12, Academic version. A fine mesh (Fig.12) was used with the refining of the areas of interest. Over 1000000 finite elements where used.

3.1. THE NORMAL FUNCTIONING SITUATION

In the normal functioning situation the stress was considered a pulsating stress. In this simulation we determined the maximum equivalent tensions and the estimated functioning life span, expressed in number of cycles. The obtained results for the equivalent tensions are described in Fig.13 and 14. In Fig. 15 and 16, the life spans are described, expressed in number of cycles.

11

Figure 13.The equivalent stress state (von Mises) in the elements of the chain

Figure 14.The equivalent stress state (von Mises) in connecting chain link

Figure 15.The life spans of the scraper shovel

Figure 16.The life spans of the connecting chain link

13

3.2. THE OVERLOAD FUNCTIONING SITUATION

The overloads are produced by foreign bodies which may be found in the ballast prism. In these simulations we determined the equivalent tensions. It is considered in this situation that the movement of the scraper shovel is stopped. This constrain was applied to the farthest scraper. In Fig. 17 and 18, the maximum equivalent tensions are described not only in the entire chain but also in its components (scraper shovels and connecting chain links).

Figure 17.The equivalent stress state (von Mises) in the elements of the chain

Figure 18.The equivalent stress state (von Mises) in connecting chain link

4.

CONCLUSIONS

After analyzing the ways of deterioration and the simulations that have been realized, it can be concluded: The main deterioration is caused by wear. During normal functioning, the tension state is not dangerous. It can become dangerous if the wear of the bodies reaches a critical value and if material (structure) defects are present in the critical area. The life span, expressed in number of cycles, is very big, with the exception of a very small area from the assembling zone between connecting chain link and bolt. A relative small rounding of this area removes the possibility of cracks appearing over time. At overload, the tension state may become critical in the case of repeated high stresses and the presence of wears and structure defects of the material. It must be mentioned that the maximum stresses can be repeated for different values. More stresses repeated by smaller values that the maximum overload, can lead to fracture by accumulating of deteriorations. The plating of the areas that are load to strong wear phenomena with materials that have a high resistance to wear can be a solution, especially for the scraper shovel.

REFERENCES
[1]. Helmut Misar, Criteria for cost-effective ballast cleaning: machine design considerations, Rail Engineering International Edition, number 4, pp. 11-16, 2005; [2]. Cr. Besleaga, Contributions regarding the increase of the lastingness of tamping tools, doctorate thesis, 625.144.5(043-2876) B-UP 1, Bucharest, 2006; [3]. S. G. Badea, Reasearch regarding the comparative study of the lastingness of tamping tools, doctorate thesis, Polytechnic University of Bucharest, 2010; [4]. C. Be leag , I.C. Popescu, R.M. Negriu, S.G. Badea, Study case tamping tools with the reinforcement by tungsten carbide at the tine, Tehnologia inovativa Construc ia de ma ini Review, nr. 2-3 /2009, p.510, ISSN 0573 7419; [5]. Cristinel Besleaga, Radu Mihai Negriu,Ionel Popescu, Sorin George Badea, Case study regarding the tamping tool type BNRI 85, New Trends in Fatigue and Fracture Congress- NT2F10, 30/08 01/09/2010, Metz France;

15 [6] I.C. Popescu, Introduction in computer aided analysis of the process equipments, Printech Publisher, ISBN 973- 652- 951- 7, Bucharest, 2004; [7] I.C. Popescu, T. Prisecaru, B. Finite elements Analysis of Pressure Equipment, Computer Aided Engineering Solutions for Design, Analysis and Innovation, (ANSYS & FLUENT User Group Meeting), Sinaia, 26-27 Aprilie 2007