Beschreibung:
<jats:title>Abstract</jats:title><jats:p>This article presents the latest of a series of research activities aimed to determine the deviation originated when Prescale pressure measurement film is used to measure the size and shape of the wheel-rail contact area. Despite being an attractive solution due to the simplicity of the measurement procedure, it is well known that the contact interaction is altered by the presence of the film. Consequently, characterizing and filtering out the systematic measurement error is a fundamental requirement for accurate quantitative assessments. Nevertheless, the complexity of the wheel-rail contact problem, which lacks an analytical solution, hinders the direct determination of correction values. The approach presented here builds on error corrections for simpler Hertzian geometries to calibrate a film model for further use in the wheel-rail contact scenario. The results highlight the marked dependency of the measurement error on wheel and rail roughness and underline the importance of including the film into finite element models that are validated by comparison with experimental observations.</jats:p>