Wind Engineering and Bluff Body Autumn 2020

Aerodynamics

Railway aerodynamics

Aim to develop an understanding of different

aspects involved in railway aerodynamics

Lecture objectives
• Consider the flow development around different
train types.
• What effect do crosswinds have?
• How does the confinement of a tunnel affect the
aerodynamics?
• Influence of train aerodynamics on trackside
structures and trackside persons.

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Wind Engineering and Bluff Body Autumn 2020
Aerodynamics

Measuring railway aerodynamics

– When describing the flow around trains, we will utilise
information from a range of full-scale experiments

Measuring railway aerodynamics

• The basic parameters that describe the flow field around a train
are the velocity and pressure fields on and around the train.
• In aerodynamic studies it is convenient to express these in a
dimensionless form as a coefficient:
• Velocity coefficient 𝐶 =
where 𝑢 is the ith component of air velocity (i=x, y or z) and v is the
train speed.
• Pressure coefficient 𝐶 =
.
where p is the surface pressure, pr is a reference pressure (usually
the pressure a long way from the train), and ρ is the density of air.

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Wind Engineering and Bluff Body Autumn 2020
Aerodynamics

Measuring railway aerodynamics

• Force and moment coefficients
𝐶 = 𝐶 =
. .
where 𝐹 and 𝑀 are the ith component of the aerodynamic forces
and moments, A is a reference area and h is a reference height.

• Overall horizontal velocity 𝐶 =

where uh is the overall horizontal velocity, the magnitude of the
vector sum of ux and uy.

Ensemble average
– Trains can be considered
a bluff body and as such
the aerodynamic flow is
inherently unsteady.
– To appropriately analyse
these flows an averaging
procedure is required to
obtain a full appreciation
of the flow.

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Wind Engineering and Bluff Body Autumn 2020
Aerodynamics

High speed passenger train slipstream

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Wind Engineering and Bluff Body Autumn 2020
Aerodynamics

High speed passenger train slipstream

Freight train slipstream

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Wind Engineering and Bluff Body Autumn 2020
Aerodynamics

Freight train slipstream

Comparison of passenger and freight

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Wind Engineering and Bluff Body Autumn 2020
Aerodynamics

Crosswind considerations
• The influence of wind on bluff
bodies raises serious issues in
terms of loading forces and
overall stability.
• Important parameter is the yaw
angle 𝜓, the angle between the
wind velocity vector relative to
the train, and the vehicle
direction of travel.
• Defined in terms of wind speed,
direction and vehicle speed.
( ) ( )
tan 𝜓 =
( )

Crosswind considerations

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Wind Engineering and Bluff Body Autumn 2020
Aerodynamics

Crosswind considerations

Crosswind considerations –
NMT case study

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Wind Engineering and Bluff Body Autumn 2020
Aerodynamics

Trains in tunnels
• When trains enter and travel through tunnels, a number
of aerodynamic effects occur. These include:
– pressure changes that may cause aural discomfort to
people on the train, and load the train structure and
equipment and fitments in the tunnel,
– air movements displaced by and around the train that
increase the aerodynamic drag of the train and exert
loads on equipment located in the tunnel or personnel
working therein and
– pressure emissions into the ambient surroundings of
the portals.

Trains in tunnels

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Wind Engineering and Bluff Body Autumn 2020
Aerodynamics

Trains in tunnels

Trains in tunnels

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Wind Engineering and Bluff Body Autumn 2020
Aerodynamics

Trains in tunnels

Aerodynamic loads
• In the operation of freight and passenger trains, the velocity and
pressure fields around the train interact with adjacent
infrastructure, other trains, moveable objects such as
pushchairs, and people on platforms and at the trackside.
• The loadings imposed by the passage of trains takes two forms:
• pressure loading
• loading due to the high air speeds in the train slipstream.

• The effect of such loads is strongly dependent on the nature of

the infrastructure, object or person, distance from train, train
type and train speed. In what follows we will consider the effect
on a stationary observer as the train passes; in this instance the
effects observed are transient in nature.

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Wind Engineering and Bluff Body Autumn 2020
Aerodynamics

Aerodynamic loads

Aerodynamic loads

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Wind Engineering and Bluff Body Autumn 2020
Aerodynamics

Aerodynamic loads

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Wind Engineering and Bluff Body Autumn 2020
Aerodynamics

Aerodynamic loads

Aerodynamic loads

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Wind Engineering and Bluff Body Autumn 2020
Aerodynamics

Aerodynamic loads
• CEN standards set out a procedure for quantifying the strength
of gusts in slipstreams, essentially acting as limited factor to
negate issues related to the safety of passengers and trackside
workers.
• The procedure requires measurements from:
– at least 20 train passes to be made at two locations: at trackside and on a
station platform.
– Velocities must be sampled at 3m from COT and 0.2m and 1.4m above
TOR.
– Platform measurements must be made at 1.2m above the top of a
platform and 3m from COT.
• These positions are intended to be representative of the chest
height/centre of mass of the majority of the adult population.

Aerodynamic loads
• Ambient wind conditions also need to be measured and only
data for runs with ambient wind speeds less than 2 m/s used.
• The air speed time history from each train passage is then
filtered with a one second moving average filter, assumed to be
an appropriate representation of human stability.

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Wind Engineering and Bluff Body Autumn 2020
Aerodynamics

Aerodynamic loads
• The maximum allowable horizontal air speed, 𝑢 , is calculated
from
𝑢 =𝑢 + 2𝑢

where 𝑢 is the mean of the peak velocities from each train

passage after the one-second moving average procedure and 𝑢
is the standard deviation of these peak velocities.

• The values of 𝑢 are then compared with the limit values set
by CEN (2013).
• It is also possible use the values 𝑢 as input velocities to the
drag coefficient equation as a method to estimate potential
forces on persons, pushchairs/wheelchairs or infrastructure next
to a passing train.

Railway aerodynamics to the

extreme!

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Wind Engineering and Bluff Body Autumn 2020
Aerodynamics

Railway aerodynamics to the

extreme!

Railway aerodynamics to the

extreme!

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Wind Engineering and Bluff Body Autumn 2020
Aerodynamics

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