Wind Tunnel Study of a Sudden Change of Train Wind Loads due to the Wind Shielding Effects of Bridge Towers and Passing Trains
Publication: Journal of Engineering Mechanics
Volume 139, Issue 9
Abstract
With crosswind actions, the wind loads on trains can change dramatically as the trains pass through the wake of bridge towers or when two trains pass each other, which will influence the stability of trains and the comfort of passengers. Taking advantage of the developed testing system of a wind tunnel test rig with moving train models, a three-car train model and a single-car train model were used to simulate rail vehicles and road vehicles, respectively. Sudden changes in the aerodynamic forces were measured when the train was passing through the bridge tower or when two trains were passing each other, and the effects of wind speed, train speed, rail positions of trains, and train types on the train’s aerodynamic coefficients were investigated. The analysis showed that for these studied cases, the aerodynamic coefficients of trains all have sudden changes. However, train-induced wind can weaken the sudden change of a train’s aerodynamic coefficients and lengthen the sudden-change region of wind shielding. The effect of sudden changes of wind loads acting on the road vehicle is more obvious than that on the rail vehicle.
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Acknowledgments
The writers are grateful for financial support from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grants NNSF-50508036 and 51178066), the New Century Excellent Talents in University of China (Grant NCET-06-0802), and the Outstanding Young Academic Leaders Program of Sichuan Province (Grant 2009-15-406). The third writer appreciates the travel support from Louisiana State University. The writers also express their appreciation to the reviewers for their very constructive comments.
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Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Engineering Mechanics
Volume 139 • Issue 9 • September 2013
Pages: 1249 - 1259
Copyright
© 2013 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Jan 17, 2011
Accepted: Oct 10, 2012
Published online: Oct 12, 2012
Published in print: Sep 1, 2013
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