Investigation of ice and snow accumulations on the bogie areas of high-speed trains using ice wind tunnel experiments

Accumulated snow and ice will severely influence the safe operation of high-speed trains in snowy weather, where the snow and ice in the bogie region are the main concerned problems that contribute to such issues. The work presented in this paper initiated experimental studied snow and ice accumulation on the running bogies of the high-speed trains to clarify the snow and ice accumulation process and causes. Two original and two optimized cases with protective schemes combined with electoral heating and an air-flow deflector under the customized train body were adopted to carry out the snow and ice wind tunnel experiments in the Icing-snowing Wind Tunnel (ISWT) of Central South University (CSU). The distributions and mass of the snow and ice were analysed, and the preliminary conclusions were drawn: the leeward side and the depressions of the bogies accumulated a layer of snow, and the melt water sprayed by the rotating brake discs flew everywhere, which contributed to rapidly growing icicles on the bogies and train body during the experiments. Deflectors, protective sleeves and different kinds of heating methods were adopted according to the original cases to optimized where they should be placed, they were capable of reducing the snow and ice mass by 62.9% and 50.4% from the original trailer and motor bogie, respectively. Thus, the optimized schemes were confirmed to be effective to show great application potential to reduce mass and increase running safety for high-speed trains in winter in cold regions.