A novel leeward airbag for enhancing aerodynamic characteristics of a high-speed train in crosswind: The effect of installation positions

Abstract

The aerodynamic performance of a high-speed train deteriorates sharply under crosswind, severely affecting its operational safety. This paper adopted a three-car high-speed train as the benchmark and established leeward side (LWS) airbag-train models. Based on the three-dimensional steady SST k-ω two-equation turbulence model, this study investigated the aerodynamic characteristics of trains under crosswind at three different airbag’ s installation positions. The results show that the airbags installed on the LWS change the surface pressure distribution on the LWS of the train body, lowering the lateral force coefficient and overturning moment coefficient, and the aerodynamic performance of the train under crosswinds is enhanced. The airbag structure located at the top of the LWS (Model III) shows the most significant improvement in crosswind performance that the lateral force coefficient is reduced by 16.71%, and the lift coefficient is increased by 17.95%, which collectively led to a decrease in the train’ s overturning moment coefficient by 23.65%. The research findings provide a reference for improving the anti-overturning performance of the next generation high-speed trains under crosswind.

Keywords

airbag structure / installation position / crosswind safety / high-speed train / anti-overturning performance

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