The optimum model determination of porous barriers in high-speed tracks

Abstract

In the railway industry, safety is an essential factor that has been modified by all societies and railroad managers. Against the background of increasing speed of rolling stock, risk factors such as cross wind and train stability have received more extensive attention. In this study, the porous wind barriers that are widely used in this industry have been surveyed. Also, to decrease the harmful effects of crosswind, the work attempts to find an optimum porous barrier design. This numerical simulation was based on a modern computational fluid dynamic in microscopic space model called the Lattice Boltzmann Method. Also, to find the optimum type of barrier design, the Multi-Objective Genetic Algorithm had been used. Two aspects of barrier design, including the porosity levels and distance between barriers, have been studied and, finally, a candidate design proposed for the barriers. It was found that porousity levels up to 15% have a positive effect in reducing the lift force coefficient, but beyond that it has a negative effect. On the other hand, increasing the porosity level leads to a decrease in the drag coefficient. The velocity vectors, velocity counter, vorticity, and turbulence intensity of the flow field around the model plotted for the candidate barrier.