李自力教授毕业于荷兰代尔夫特理工大学(TU Delft) , 获得计算力学博士学位，目前在荷兰代尔夫特理工大学土木工程及地学学院任铁道系统及检测讲席教授。李自力教授的研究领域主要为以轮-轨滚动接触为中心的列车-线路相互作用，轮-轨界面损伤机理及其检测理论与方法，以及复杂环境下轨道结构优化设计与养护维修理论。他的研究在轮-轨接触力学、铁道工程科学与技术的关键领域获得了国际同行的高度认可、处于世界领先地位。李教授已发表学术论文100 余篇，国际专利两项; 其中过去五年在国际相关领域的顶级刊物上发表论文36 篇。目前担任4 个国际学术期刊编委，多个国际会议的学术委员会委员。他在从事基础科学研究的同时，特别注重将成果转化为生产力， 并产生了良好的社会经济效益。

Abstract:Wheel-rail contact plays a critical role in rail transportation. This lecture will contain 3 closely related parts: (1) It will start with a brief review of solutions of frictional rolling contact in statics. The focus will then be on advances in dynamic wheel-rail contact made in the past 10 years mainly at TU Delft. (2) Next, the contact mechanics will be applied to the understanding of the two major types of rail rolling contact fatigue: head checks and squats, as well as to the development of their counter measures. The latest insight into the formation mechanism of short pitch corrugation will be introduced. (3) As fatigue is inevitable under cyclic wheel-rail interaction, early detection is very much desired for predictive and preventive maintenance. For this the dynamics-based early detection technologies that are (being) developed at TU Delft will be presented.