Effect on measurements of anemometers due to a passing high-speed train

Abstract

The three-dimensional unsteady incompressible Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes equations and k-<TEX>${\varepsilon}$</TEX> double equations turbulent model were used to investigate the effect on the measurements of anemometers due to a passing high-speed train. Sliding mesh technology in Fluent was utilized to treat the moving boundary problem. The high-speed train considered in this paper was with bogies and inter-carriage gaps. Combined with the results of the wind tunnel test in a published paper, the accuracy of the present numerical method was validated to be used for further study. In addition, the difference of slipstream between three-car and eight-car grouping models was analyzed, and a series of numerical simulations were carried out to study the influences of the anemometer heights, the train speeds, the crosswind speeds and the directions of the induced slipstream on the measurements of the anemometers. The results show that the influence factors of the train-induced slipstream are the passing head car and tail car. Using the three-car grouping model to analyze the train-induced flow is reasonable. The maxima of horizontal slipstream velocity tend to reduce as the height of the anemometer increases. With the train speed increasing, the relationship between <TEX>$V_{train}$</TEX> and <TEX>$V_{induced\;slipstream}$</TEX> can be expressed with linear increment. In the absence of natural wind conditions, from the head car arriving to the tail car leaving, the induced wind direction changes about <TEX>$330^{\circ}$</TEX>, while under the crosswind condition the wind direction fluctuates around <TEX>$-90^{\circ}$</TEX>. With the crosswind speed increasing, the peaks of <TEX>$V_X,{\mid}V_{XY}-V_{wind}{\mid}$</TEX> of the head car and that of <TEX>$V_X$</TEX> of the tail car tend to enlarge. Thus, when anemometers are installed along high-speed railways, it is important to study the effect on the measurements of anemometers due to the train-induced slipstream.