Wake characteristics of high-speed trains with different lengths

Abstract

Three different train configurations with different numbers of cars are analysed in order to investigate the effect of the train length on wake structures. The train geometry considered is the aerodynamic train model and the different versions have two, three and four cars. Due to the different lengths of the trains, the boundary-layer thickness will be different at the tail of each configuration. The flow is simulated using detached eddy simulation, and coherent flow structures are extracted via proper orthogonal decomposition and dynamic mode decomposition. As a result of reconstruction of the flow field using coupling of the mean flow and the first fluctuating proper orthogonal decomposition mode, it is found that the dominant flow structure in the wake is the same for all three cases. However, this structure has different frequencies and wavelengths depending on the boundary-layer thickness in front of the separation. It is shown that the frequency decreases as the boundary-layer thickness increases for these train configurations.