Numerical Analysis of Urban-Rail Vehicle/Tunnel Aerodynamic Interaction

The pressure wave generated by an urban-rail vehicle when passing through a tunnel affects the comfort of passengers and may even cause damage to the train and related tunnel structures. Therefore, controlling the train speed in the tunnel is extremely important. In this study, this problem is investigated numerically in the framework of the standard k-ε two-equation turbulence model. In particular, an eight-car urban rail train passing through a tunnel at different speeds (140, 160, 180 and 200 km/h) is considered. The results show that the maximum aerodynamic drag of the head and tail cars is most affected by the running speed. The pressure at selected measuring points on the windward side of the head car is very high, and the negative pressure at the side window of the driver’s cab of the tail car is also very large. From the head car to the tail car, the pressure at the same height gradually decreases. The positive pressure peak at the head car and the negative pressure peak at the tail car are greatly affected by the speed.