Crosswind assessment of trains on different ground configurations

Abstract: Cross wind analysis is one of the important safety measures for rail vehicle certification. The objective of this study is to identify which vehicle certification ground setup, true flat ground (TFG) or single track ballast and rail (STBR) represents a more realistic ground setup with atmospheric boundary layer (ABL) wind inlet and also to represent an embankment scenario. A streamlined high speed train ICE3 and a conventional Regional train are taken for the analysis to represent both categories. CFD is used as a tool for calculations. The best practice recommended by the AeroTRAIN project is used for the CFD approach. The analysis is done for various configurations including STBR, TFG, embankments, ground roughness, moving ground, non-moving ground, block profile inlet, ABL inlet, model scale and full scale setups. The Regional train shows higher roll moment coefficient about lee rail (Cmx,lee) compared to the ICE3 train, whereas the ICE3 train has a higher lift force coefficient than the Regional train. STBR setup shows a higher force and moment coefficient compared to TFG. The STBR setup represents the more realistic setup of moving rough ground with ABL wind inlet and also the realistic embankment scenario.