A Study of the Influence of Aerodynamic Forces on a Human Body near a High-Speed Train

Abstract

A study of the influence of aerodynamic force on human body near the high-speed train was completed by the means of the technology of moving grids in computational fluid dynamics method. 60 running situations, which includes 3 types of locomotive shape, 4 running speeds of train combining 5 distances from human body to the sidewall of the train (human-train distances), were simulated. The 4 running speeds are 200km/h, 250km/h, 300km/h and 350km/h. The 5 human-train distances are 1.0m, 1.5m, 2.0m, 2.5m and 3.5m. The study results show that the aerodynamic force acting on human body strongly affected by the shape of the passing train head. The aerodynamic force produced at 1.0m human-train distance by extremely blunt train head at 350km/h speed is 7 times more than that produced by a streamline train head at the same operating condition. With an increase of human-train distance, the differences among the aerodynamic forces produced by the different shape of train head decreases. The decrease is about a quadratic function of the human-train distance, and has nothing to do with train speed. The ratio of the maximum aerodynamic force produced by train head and that produced by train tail at a given human-train distance is about a constant and independent of train speed. The ratio of the maximum aerodynamic forces for any two different human-train distances produced by train head or train tail is about a constant and has nothing to do with train speed. The direction of the aerodynamic force acting on the human body is nearly the same in different running conditions independent of train head/tail shape. The direction of the aerodynamic force changes over 300 degrees when train head or train tail passes. Based on the calculation results, formulas for calculating the aerodynamic force acting on the human body and the maximum wind speed near the human body were presented. Safety distances for people walking or working near passing train were recommended.