Optimal Shape of Blunt Device for High Speed Vehicle

Abstract

A contact strip shape of a high speed train pantograph system was optimized with CFD to increase the aerodynamic performance and stability of contact force, and the results were validated by a wind tunnel test. For design of the optimal contact strip shape, a Kriging model and genetic algorithm were used to ensure the global search of the optimal point and reduce the computational cost. To enhance the performance and robustness of the contact strip for high speed pantograph, the drag coefficient and the fluctuation of the lift coefficient along the angle of attack were selected as design objectives. Aerodynamic forces were measured by a load cell and HWA (Hot Wire Anemometer) was used to measure the Strouhal number of wake flow. PIV (Particle Image Velocimetry) was adopted to visualize the flow fields. The optimized contact strip shape was shown a lower drag with smaller fluctuation of vertical lift force than the general shaped contact strip. And the acoustic noise source strength of the optimized contact strip was also reduced. Finally, the reduction amount of drag and noise was assessed when the optimized contact strip was applied to three dimensional pantograph system.