Numerical study on slipstream-induced snow drifting and accumulation in the bogie region of a high-speed train passing the snowy ballast bed

Abstract

When a high-speed train (HST) passes the snowy ballast bed in winter, the slipstream can induce snow drifting and generate snow accumulation problem in the bogie region. The conventional numerical method has utilized the way that snow particles drift with the incoming flow around a stationary train with moving ground (STMG). In this paper, the sliding mesh technique is applied to reproduce the actual scene of a moving train with stationary ground (MTSG). Coupled with the discrete phase model, a novel simulation method for snow accumulation is presented. The comparisons between the STMG and MTSG are conducted, including the flow field, snow distribution and accumulation features. The results show that similar flow field around the HST is captured by the two methods. The MTSG predicts more dispersed snow distribution in the Bogie 2 region than the STMG. The total mass of accumulated snow on bogies and cavities obtained by MTSG is 18.31% more than that derived from STMG. The presented method achieves the relative motion among the HST-snow-ground and the sweeping process of the slipstream on the snow surface is fully considered. In engineering applications, it provides a feasible method to explore the snow accumulation phenomenon of HSTs in more scenes, such as the intersecting of two HSTs.