Crosswind stability of a high-speed train on a high embankment

Abstract

This work presents aerodynamic results of crosswind stability obtained numerically and experimentally for the leading control unit (class 808) of Deutsche Bahn AG's high-speed train Inter-CityExpress 2. The train model is on top of a 6m high embankment in accordance with the proposed European code for interoperable trains, the so-called technical specifications for interoperability. The purpose of the study is to convey the predictive accuracy that typical steady-state computational fluid dynamics-Reynolds average Navier-Stokes methods (industry standard) return and to contribute to the understanding of the aerodynamics for the current application.

Attention is drawn to the aerodynamics around the train and embankment when subjected to a steady block profile crosswind of 30° yaw angle on the basis of the onset velocity far upstream the embankment. The Re (Reynolds number) of the embankment cases is 4.6 × 10⁶. Calculated results are obtained with the commercial code STAR-CD, with exclusively hexahedral meshes with a total cell count of 13.5 × 10⁶. Results are obtained when the train stands on the windward and leeward tracks on top of the embankment. These results are first compared with a flat ground case from a previous study.

Then experimental data are obtained in a high-pressure wind tunnel with a model scale of 1:100. Re effects are compensated by raising the ambient pressure by a factor of 60, which increases the air density and thus the Re by a similar factor. Calculated results are in fair agreement with the experiments, where both the calculations and the experiments predict the leeward case to be the more critical one.

In addition, the related consequences on the mechanical behaviour, i.e. the stability of the car, are briefly addressed by means of a quasi-static mechanical analysis. The results of the present study indicate that the 6m high embankment concerning the current train reduces the permissible crosswind speed with approximately 20 per cent.

Keywords

train aerodynamics crosswind stability train overturning computational fluid dynamics wind tunnel testing

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