Effects of Bogies on the Wake Flow of a High-Speed Train

Abstract

The wake region of high-speed trains is an area of complex turbulent flow characterized by the periodic generation and shedding of vortices, which causes discomfort to passengers and affects the stability and safety of the train. In this study, the unsteady characteristics of the wake flows of three 1:1 scale China Railway High-Speed 380A (CRH380A) high-speed train models with different degrees of simplification were numerically investigated using the improved delayed detached eddy simulation (IDDES) method. Analyses of the aerodynamic forces, train-induced slipstream, and turbulent kinetic energy (TKE) were conducted to determine the effects of the bogies on the wake flow of the high-speed train. It was found that the existence of bogies on the bottom of the train, especially the last bogie, not only enhanced the wake flow but also introduced large perturbances into the wake flow. Moreover, the generation and evolution of the vortices in the wake flows were determined by analyzing the instantaneous flow fields and coherent flow structures that were obtained by the dynamic mode decomposition (DMD) method. The results showed that a pair of large, counter-rotating streamwise vortices in the real model of the high-speed train was generated by the cowcatcher and their intensity was significantly enhanced by perturbances that were introduced by the bogies on the bottom of the train.