Influence of a high-speed train passing through a tunnel on pantograph aerodynamics and pantograph–catenary interaction

Author(s):  
Ruiping Li ◽  
Weihua Zhang ◽  
Zhou Ning ◽  
Binbin Liu ◽  
Dong Zou ◽  
...  

Aerodynamics of trains running inside tunnels change more significantly in comparison with open air scenarios. It has been confirmed that the lateral vibration as well as the aerodynamic drag of the trains is increased and the micro-pressure wave is produced at the tunnel exit when the trains are passing through tunnels. The aim of this article is to explore the impact of a high-speed train passing through a tunnel on the pantograph aerodynamics and the dynamic behavior of the pantograph–catenary interaction. The aerodynamic forces acting on the pantograph are investigated thoroughly by extensive numerical simulations as well as systematic field tests. To investigate the effects of the aerodynamic forces of pantograph on the quality of current collection, the numerical simulations of the pantograph–catenary dynamic interaction are conducted with our proposed model, taking into consideration the action of the aerodynamic uplift forces obtained by the numerical simulations on the pantograph. Then, a series of numerical simulations are also carried out to analyze the effects of the train speed and the blockage ratio on the aerodynamic uplift forces of the pantograph, on the contact forces, as well as on the displacement of the contact wire, while the train is passing through a tunnel. The results reveal that compared with the open air scenarios, the aerodynamic drag and uplift forces of the pantograph, the mean value of the contact force and the displacement level of the registration arm can considerably increase as the train runs inside a tunnel. Moreover, the statistical values of the contact forces and the displacement level of the contact wire become larger while the train is passing through the tunnel at different speeds. On the other hand, the quality of current collection decreases with the increasing of the blockage ratio.

2016 ◽  
Vol 19 (4) ◽  
pp. 409-416
Author(s):  
Hyuck Keun Oh ◽  
Seogwon Kim ◽  
Yong-hyun Cho ◽  
Minho Kwak ◽  
Sam Young Kwon

Author(s):  
Sreeja Bibin ◽  
Sujay Kumar Mukherjea

This work involves numerical simulations based on finite volume method to study the effects of different factors on the aerodynamic drag on a vacuum tube train running at subsonic and transonic speeds in a partially vacuum tunnel. Investigation includes the study of the effects of the shapes of head, tail, vacuum pressure and also blockage ratio of the tunnel on aerodynamic drag on a high speed train. The simulation is performed by using fluent software. Two dimensional, axisymmetric, compressible Navier-Stokes equations were solved by using k-ε turbulent modeling. Five different blockage ratios at five different speeds of the train have been considered. The simulated results show that, the blockage ratio and different working vacuum pressure significantly affects the aerodynamic drag of the train in a tunnel. Investigations with respect to different shapes of the head as well as that of the tail indicate the optimum shape for minimum drag.


2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (9) ◽  
pp. 3934
Author(s):  
Federico Lluesma-Rodríguez ◽  
Temoatzin González ◽  
Sergio Hoyas

One of the most restrictive conditions in ground transportation at high speeds is aerodynamic drag. This is even more problematic when running inside a tunnel, where compressible phenomena such as wave propagation, shock waves, or flow blocking can happen. Considering Evacuated-Tube Trains (ETTs) or hyperloops, these effects appear during the whole route, as they always operate in a closed environment. Then, one of the concerns is the size of the tunnel, as it directly affects the cost of the infrastructure. When the tube size decreases with a constant section of the vehicle, the power consumption increases exponentially, as the Kantrowitz limit is surpassed. This can be mitigated when adding a compressor to the vehicle as a means of propulsion. The turbomachinery increases the pressure of part of the air faced by the vehicle, thus delaying the critical conditions on surrounding flow. With tunnels using a blockage ratio of 0.5 or higher, the reported reduction in the power consumption is 70%. Additionally, the induced pressure in front of the capsule became a negligible effect. The analysis of the flow shows that the compressor can remove the shock waves downstream and thus allows operation above the Kantrowitz limit. Actually, for a vehicle speed of 700 km/h, the case without a compressor reaches critical conditions at a blockage ratio of 0.18, which is a tunnel even smaller than those used for High-Speed Rails (0.23). When aerodynamic propulsion is used, sonic Mach numbers are reached above a blockage ratio of 0.5. A direct effect is that cases with turbomachinery can operate in tunnels with blockage ratios even 2.8 times higher than the non-compressor cases, enabling a considerable reduction in the size of the tunnel without affecting the performance. This work, after conducting bibliographic research, presents the geometry, mesh, and setup. Later, results for the flow without compressor are shown. Finally, it is discussed how the addition of the compressor improves the flow behavior and power consumption of the case.


2021 ◽  
Vol 215 ◽  
pp. 104698
Author(s):  
Xiao-Bai Li ◽  
Xi-Feng Liang ◽  
Zhe Wang ◽  
Xiao-Hui Xiong ◽  
Guang Chen ◽  
...  

2013 ◽  
Vol 300-301 ◽  
pp. 62-67
Author(s):  
Kun Ye ◽  
Ren Xian Li

Cutting is an effective device to reduce crosswind loads acting on trains. The cutting depth, width and gradient of slope are important factors for design and construction of cutting. Based on numerical analysis methods of three-dimensional viscous incompressible aerodynamics equations, aerodynamic side forces and yawing moments acting on the high-speed train, with different depths and widths of cutting,are calculated and analyzed under crosswinds,meanwhile the relationship of the gradient of cutting slope and transverse aerodynamic forces acting on trains are also studied. Simulation results show that aerodynamic side forces and yawing moments acting on the train(the first, middle and rear train)decrease with the increase of cutting depth. The relationship between transverse forces (moments) coefficients acting on the three sections and the cutting depth basically is the three cubed relation. The bigger is cutting width,the worse is running stability of train. The relationship between yawing moments coefficients acting each body of the train and the cutting width approximately is the three cubed relation. The transverse Aerodynamic forces decreased gradually with the increase of the gradient of cutting slope, the relationship between yawing moments coefficients acting each body of the train and the gradient of cutting slope basically is the four cubed relation.


Complexity ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 2018 ◽  
pp. 1-17
Author(s):  
He-xuan Hu ◽  
Wan-xin Lei ◽  
Ye Zhang

With the world development of high-speed railways and increasing speeds, aerodynamic forces and moments acting on trains have been increased further, making trains stay at a “floated” state. Under a strong crosswind, the aerodynamic performance of a train on the embankment is greatly deteriorated; lift force and horizontal force borne by trains will be increased quickly; trains may suffer derailing or overturning more easily compared with the flat ground; train derailing will take place when the case is serious. All of these phenomena have brought risks to people’s life and properties. Hence, the paper establishes an aerodynamic model about a high-speed train passing an air barrier, computes aerodynamic forces and moments, and analyzes pulsating pressures on the train surface as well as those of unsteady flow fields around the train. Computational results indicate that when the train passed the embankment air barrier, the head wave of air pressure full wave is more than the tail wave; the absolute value of negative wave is more than that of the positive wave, which is more obvious in the head train. When the train is passing the air barrier, pressure pulsation values at head train points are more than those at other points, while pressure changes most violently at the train bottom, and pressure values close to the air barrier are more than those points far from the air barrier. Pressure values at the cross section 1 were larger than those of other points. Pressure values at measurement points of the tail train ranked the second place, with the maximum negative pressure of 1253 Pa. Pressure change amplitudes and maximum negative pressure on the train surface are increased quickly, while pressure peak values on the high-speed train surface are in direct ratio to the running speed. With the increased speed of the high-speed train, when it is running in the embankment air barrier, the aerodynamic force and moment borne by each train body are increased sharply, while the head train suffers the most obvious influences of aerodynamic effects.


Author(s):  
Yeongbin Lee ◽  
Minho Kwak ◽  
Kyu Hong Kim ◽  
Dong-Ho Lee

In this study, the aerodynamic characteristics of pantograph system according to the pantograph cover configurations for high speed train were investigated by wind tunnel test. Wind tunnel tests were conducted in the velocity range of 20∼70m/s with scaled experimental pantograph models. The experimental models were 1/4 scaled simplified pantograph system which consists of a double upper arm and a single lower arm with a square cylinder shaped panhead. The experimental model of the pantograph cover is also 1/4 scaled and were made as 4 different configurations. It is laid on the ground plate which modeled on the real roof shape of the Korean high speed train. Using a load cell, the aerodynamic force such as a lift and a drag which were acting on pantograph system were measured and the aerodynamic effects according to the various configurations of pantograph covers were investigated. In addition, the total pressure distributions of the wake regions behind the panhead of the pantograph system were measured to investigate the variations of flow pattern. From the experimental test results, we checked that the flow patterns and the aerodynamic characteristics around the pantograph systems are varied as the pantograph cover configurations. In addition, it is also found that pantograph cover induced to decrease the aerodynamic drag and lift forces. Finally, we proposed the aerodynamic improvement of pantograph cover and pantograph system for high speed train.


1983 ◽  
Vol 105 (4) ◽  
pp. 287-294 ◽  
Author(s):  
T. Vinayagalingam

A digital computer simulation technique is used to study the effects of changing pantograph characteristics upon the quality of current collection from simple catenary overhead equipment at high speed. In particular, the likely benefits to be derived by the use of controlled pantographs are assessed. Pantograph performance is judged on the basis of contact force variation and displacement responses of pantograph and contact wire. These studies have shown that the dynamic displacements of the combined system are determined primarily by the overhead line parameters rather than by the pantograph. At higher speeds droppers in the vicinity of the pantograph slacken and this is seen to influence significantly the contact force profile. On a “constant height” overhead line, the proposed “frame compensated” and “panhead inertia compensated” pantographs do not show any marked improvement in the quality of current collection.


2018 ◽  
Vol 18 (11) ◽  
pp. 1850132 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jian Dai ◽  
Kok Keng Ang ◽  
Van Hai Luong ◽  
Minh Thi Tran ◽  
Dongqi Jiang

This paper presents a numerical study on the out-of-plane responses of a high-speed train running on a curved railway track segment using the moving element method. The accuracy and efficiency of the proposed computation model presented herein are compared with available analytical results from the literature and a finite element solver based on a simplified moving load model. Thereafter, a half-railcar moving sprung-mass model and a double-rail track-foundation model are presented to investigate the behavior of a high-speed train traversing a curved track, particularly when the train speed is greater than the design speed of the curved track segment. The results show that the train speed and severity of track irregularity significantly affect the contact forces on the rails. This paper also presents a case of a railcar overturning when the train speed is greater than 2.5 times the design speed of a curved track segment.


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