The BAM Federal Institute of Materials Research and Testing Berlin participated in the NOVUM integrated project “New methods for quantitative forecast of the transport capability of rail tracks with increasing load“ – a German-French DEUFRAKO project from 2004 to 2007 and dealt with fatigue tests of rail parts with profile 60 E1 (260). The main goal was to improve the performance of rails as an important component of the railway transportation system by improving damage prediction in rails.
BAM investigated the propagation of transverse cracks in rails.
Crack propagation tests were also carried out on material specimens of S 900 A rail steel .
The special goal was to obtain applicable data of crack propagation using by the project partners to validate their own computational procedures.