Numerical investigation of the aerodynamic characteristics of a train subjected to different ground conditions

Author(s):  
Ji-qiang Niu ◽  
Xi-feng Liang ◽  
Dan Zhou ◽  
Yue-ming Wang

Due to the rapid development of high-speed railways and the increasing speed of trains, the aerodynamic phenomenon caused by moving trains could be affected. Therefore, the scaled model test has been widely used to simulate the aerodynamic performance of the stationary train in wind tunnel. However, it is difficult to disregard the influence of the ground effect on the aerodynamic performance of trains. In this study, the delayed detached eddy simulation based on the shear stress transport κ–ω turbulence model is used to investigate the aerodynamic performance of trains on three ground conditions (stationary floor + stationary ballast, stationary ground + stationary ballast, and stationary ballast). The numerical method used in this paper is verified by a wind tunnel test. The way the three ground conditions influence the flow field around the train is also analyzed. The results show that the ground condition affects the thickness of the ballast boundary layers without a train, thickness of the train boundary layers, train drag, distribution of pressure and velocity along the train, and the size of the wake region; however, the ground condition had a little effect on the flow structures around the train tail. These findings can help in designing the wind tunnel experiment.

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shi Meng ◽  
Guang Chen ◽  
Dan Zhou ◽  
Shuang Meng

Abstract The effect of the ground condition on unsteady aerodynamic performance of maglev train was numerically investigated with an IDDES (Improved Delayed Detached Eddy Simulation) method. The accuracy of the numerical method has been validated by wind tunnel experiments. The flow structure, slipstream and aerodynamic force around the train under stationary and moving ground conditions were compared. Compared with the stationary ground condition, the vortex structure under the condition of moving ground generated by the wake region is narrower and higher because of the track. Near the nose point of the head and tail vehicles, the peak value of slipstream under the condition of moving ground is slightly higher than that under stationary ground. In the wake area, the effect of the main vortex structure on both sides of the tail vehicle and the track makes the vortex structure in the wake area stronger than that under moving ground, the slipstream peak is larger and the locus thereof is further forward. Under the two ground conditions, the vortex structure is periodically shed from both sides of the train into the wake area, and the shedding frequency of the main vortex under the moving ground condition is lower than that under the stationary ground condition. Moving ground can increase the resistance of the maglev train, reduce the lift of the maglev train, and decrease the standard deviation of the maglev train’s aerodynamic force.


2017 ◽  
Vol 139 (5) ◽  
Author(s):  
Chao Xia ◽  
Xizhuang Shan ◽  
Zhigang Yang

The influence of ground effect on the wake of a high-speed train (HST) is investigated by an improved delayed detached-eddy simulation. Aerodynamic forces, the time-averaged and instantaneous flow structure of the wake are explored for both the stationary ground and the moving ground. It shows that the lift force of the trailing car is overestimated, and the fluctuation of the lift and side force is much greater under the stationary ground, especially for the side force. The coexistence of multiscale vortex structures can be observed in the wake along with vortex stretching and pairing. Furthermore, the out-of-phase vortex shedding and oscillation of the longitudinal vortex pair in the wake are identified for both ground configurations. However, the dominant Strouhal number of the vortex shedding for the stationary and moving ground is 0.196 and 0.111, respectively, due to the different vorticity accumulation beneath the train. A conceptual model is proposed to interpret the mechanism of the interaction between the longitudinal vortex pair and the ground. Under the stationary ground, the vortex pair embedded in a turbulent boundary layer causes more rapid diffusion of the vorticity, leading to more intensive oscillation of the longitudinal vortex pair.


2007 ◽  
Vol 111 (1126) ◽  
pp. 797-806 ◽  
Author(s):  
G. Doig ◽  
T. J. Barber ◽  
E. Leonardi ◽  
A. J. Neely

Abstract The influence of flow compressibility on a highly-cambered inverted aerofoil in ground effect is presented, based on two-dimensional computational studies. This type of problem has relevance to open-wheel racing cars, where local regions of high-speed subsonic flow form under favourable pressure gradients, even though the maximum freestream Mach number is typically considerably less than Mach 0·3. An important consideration for CFD users in this field is addressed in this paper: the freestream Mach number at which flow compressibility significantly affects aerodynamic performance. More broadly, for aerodynamicists, the consequences of this are also considered. Comparisons between incompressible and compressible CFD simulations are used to identify important changes to the flow characteristics caused by density changes, highlighting the inappropriateness of incompressible simulations of ground effect flows for freestream Mach numbers as low as 0·15.


Author(s):  
Aditi Deekshita Pallay ◽  
Abdul Wahab ◽  
Akhil Shesham ◽  
Y D Dwivedi

Ground effect plays a vital role in modulating the flow behavior over any streamlined body. The most widely used wing-in ground effect (WIG) aircrafts and seaplanes utilize this phenomenon in order to enhance the aerodynamic performance during the landing and take-off phases of flight. This paper investigates the aerodynamics of ground effect on a NACA 4412 rectangular wing without end plates. The experiment was conducted in a low-speed wind tunnel at Re=2×105 for the ground clearance of 1 and 0.5 of the chord, measured from the maximum thickness position on the airfoil. The pressure distribution over the chord length was recorded for α=3° and 6° to verify the effect of ground clearance during takeoffs. The results have shown to be in good accordance with the literature, as the coefficient of lift augmented with increase in ground proximity and the induced drag was minimized.


2015 ◽  
Vol 137 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Justin A. Morden ◽  
Hassan Hemida ◽  
Chris. J. Baker

Currently, there are three different methodologies for evaluating the aerodynamics of trains; full-scale measurements, physical modeling using wind-tunnel, and moving train rigs and numerical modeling using computational fluid dynamics (CFD). Moreover, different approaches and turbulence modeling are normally used within the CFD framework. The work in this paper investigates the consistency of two of these methodologies; the wind-tunnel and the CFD by comparing the measured surface pressure with the computed CFD values. The CFD is based on Reynolds-Averaged Navier–Stokes (RANS) turbulence models (five models were used; the Spalart–Allmaras (S–A), k-ε, k-ε re-normalization group (RNG), realizable k-ε, and shear stress transport (SST) k-ω) and two detached eddy simulation (DES) approaches; the standard DES and delayed detached eddy simulation (DDES). This work was carried out as part of a larger project to determine whether the current methods of CFD, model scale and full-scale testing provide consistent results and are able to achieve agreement with each other when used in the measurement of train aerodynamic phenomena. Similar to the wind-tunnel, the CFD approaches were applied to external aerodynamic flow around a 1/25th scale class 43 high-speed tunnel (HST) model. Comparison between the CFD results and wind-tunnel data were conducted using coefficients for surface pressure, measured at the wind-tunnel by pressure taps fitted over the surface of the train in loops. Four different meshes where tested with both the RANS SST k-ω and DDES approaches to form a mesh sensitivity study. The four meshes featured 18, 24, 34, and 52 × 106 cells. A mesh of 34 × 106 cells was found to provide the best balance between accuracy and computational cost. Comparison of the results showed that the DES based approaches; in particular, the DDES approach was best able to replicate the wind-tunnel results within the margin of uncertainty.


2019 ◽  
Vol 2019 ◽  
pp. 1-20 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xiao-ming Tan ◽  
Peng-peng Xie ◽  
Zhi-gang Yang ◽  
Jian-yong Gao

This study was targeted at CX-PG-type Faiveley pantograph of high-speed train and cylinders and analysed the fluctuating flow field around these objects by using the large eddy simulation (LES) model, the scale adaptive simulation (SAS) model, the improved delayed detached eddy simulation with shear-stress transport-kω (IDDES sst-kω) model, the delayed detached eddy simulation with shear-stress transport-kω (DDES sst-kω) model, and the delayed detached eddy simulation with realizable-kε (DDES R-kε) model. The space distributions of velocity, vorticity, and vortex structures were compared to investigate their performances on simulating fluctuating flow fields and computing aeroacoustic sources through Fourier transformation based on the surface fluctuating pressures. Furthermore, the far-field radiated noise was calculated based on the Ffowcs Williams–Hawkings equation. Based on the computation precision of the five models, a feasible turbulent model was selected for simulating aerodynamic noise. The relative errors to the results from wind-tunnel experiments of the sound pressure level (SPL) were obtained as 0.7%, 1.6%, 7.8%, 3.8%, and 12.1%, respectively, and the peak Strouhal numbers were obtained as 2.0%, 8.5%, 5.5%, 11.5%, and 51.0% for cylinder simulation. Moreover, the relative errors of SAS, IDDES sst-kω, DDES sst-kω, and DDES R-kε models to the result from LES of SPL were respectively obtained as 2.3%, 4.5%, 5.6%, and 10.8% for pantograph. Thus, it is conclusive that none of the aforementioned models are comparable with the LES model with respect to the precision in the aeroacoustic simulation. However, SAS, IDDES sst-kω, and DDES sst-kω are practically competent with the LES model considering the numerical simulations with respect to the engineering computation precision. The numerical computation model was verified using the wind-tunnel test results.


Author(s):  
Ji-qiang Niu ◽  
Dan Zhou ◽  
Xi-feng Liang

In this study, based on the shear-stress transport κ–ω turbulent model, the improved delayed detached eddy simulation method has been used to simulate the unsteady aerodynamic performance of trains with different obstacle deflectors at two yaw angles (0° and 15°). The numerical algorithm is used and some of the numerical results are verified through wind tunnel tests. By comparing and analysing the obtained results, the effects of the obstacle deflectors on the force of the trains as well as the pressure and flow structure around the trains are elucidated. The results show that the obstacle deflectors primarily affect the flow field at the bottom of the head car as well as the wake flow, and that the internal oblique-type obstacle deflector (IOOD) markedly improves the aerodynamic performance of the trains, by decreasing most of the aerodynamic forces of the train cars and minimising their fluctuations. Further, a nonzero yaw angle weakens or even changes the effect of the IOOD on the aerodynamic forces of the train cars. However, the effect of the IOOD is more on the tail car.


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