Abstract:A finite element model consisting of a wheel,a rail and a serial of sleepers was set up based on the theory that saturated creep force may induce frictional selfexcited vibration of the wheel/rail system,which is able to cause rail corrugation.The complex eigenvalue method was used to research the effect of wheel/rail contact parameters on rail corrugation on the low rail of a tight curved track.The results show that the saturated creep force may bring about rail corrugation on the low rail of a tight curved track.The contact angle has few influence on the wavelength and occurring propensity of rail corrugation.The traction angle has few influence on the wavelength,while it has a large influence on the occurring propensity of rail corrugation,and the occurring propensity of rail corrugation is decreased gradually with the increasing of traction angle.The research shows that,on the low rail of a tight curved track,the traction angel is decreased with the decreasing of the track radius,the trend of frictional selfexcited vibration in the system is enhanced,and the rail corrugation is more prone to be induced,which is why the phenomenon of rail corrugation is more obvious on smaller curved track.