Numerical investigation on the crosswind effects on a train running on a bridge

With the increase of the running speed of the high-speed train (HST), aerodynamic interference between the HST and surrounding structures becomes more and more important. Traditional wind tunnel experiments using the stationary model can not fully reveal the pulsing behavior of the aerodynamic forces on both the HST and surrounding structures. This paper numerically investigates the aerodynamic characteristics of an HST running on a bridge in cross-wind. The simulation results reveal that when there is no wind barrier, the stationary model case with the yaw angle identical to the moving model case can roughly reproduce the main flow structures around the train. However, once the train runs downstream a wind barrier, the stationary model cannot reveal its aerodynamic characteristics regardless of the yaw angle adopted. The moving model scenario successfully captures the pulsing behavior of the forces on both the train and wind barrier, which is concealed in the cases with a stationary model. The present results indicate that only the moving model method can fully reveal the aerodynamic characteristics and interactions between the train and surrounding structures, especially in evaluating their dynamic response.