Experimental investigations on the performance of anti-snow designs for urban rail train bogies

Abstract

Under weather conditions such as snow and icing in cold regions, snow and ice accumulation on bogies severely affect the running safety and increase the energy consumption of urban rail trains. To analyze the snow and ice accumulation process, experiments for real urban rail train non-powered bogie were conducted for the first time in the Central South University Icing and Snowing Wind Tunnel (CSU-ISWT). Two anti-snow structures (deflectors and wheelset snow shields) with low energy consumption were designed and discussed based on comparative experiments. The following data were collected after each experiment: dynamic accumulation process, final distribution of snow and ice, and total accumulation mass on the bogie. The results showed that the distributions on the original and optimized bogies were similar. Much more snow and ice accumulated on the lower part of the bogie than on the upper part and covered more on the windward side of the frame than on the leeward side. In the experiments with anti-snow structures, the snow and ice mass accumulated on the bogies decreased by 53.35% and 52.64% in the deflectors and wheelset snow shields cases, respectively. The proposed structures were proven to significantly improve anti-snow performance on the bogies. Therefore, the presented initial research can remarkably strengthen the transportation capacity and safety of urban rail trains in winter.