Performance of a vehicle-mounted anemometer under crosswind: Simulation and experiment

Abstract

Abstract Environmental wind measurements are essential for ensuring the operational safety of rail vehicles. In our previous work, an anemometer that can be mounted on the top of a train to achieve real-time measurements of wind speed and direction was proposed based on the pressure distributions around the cylindrical anemometer. However, the flow field on the top of the train is significantly influenced by the train; thus, the measured data might differ from the actual environmental wind parameters, particularly when trains are subjected to windbreak walls. In this study, simulations considering flow fields around trains installed with the proposed anemometer were conducted, and an improved delayed detached eddy simulation approach was adopted. Through simulations, the flow field at the top of the train was analysed, and the aerodynamic characteristics of the anemometer were investigated. Accordingly, relationships between the measured wind characteristics and environmental wind characteristics are presented under various situations herein. Field experiments were performed for the proposed anemometer installed on a certain type of high-speed train along the Nanjiang Railway in China. The results obtained from both the numerical and experimental studies show that the proposed method has high accuracy for measuring environmental wind speed and direction when mounted on the top of a train.