Railway Freight Car Model Aerodynamics at Different Airflow Attack Angles

Abstract

The problem solution is considered for an airstream flow around a rectangular parallelepiped railway car model. The results of computer modeling in ANSYS CFX software system of air flow aerodynamics at its deviation from the longitudinal axis of the car are given. The k-ε turbulence model is used to close the Navier–Stokes equations averaged by Reynolds. The distribution diagrams of the flow velocities and pressures on the frontal and side surfaces of the vehicle are obtained. The values of aerodynamic drag coefficients of the car depending on the attack angle are determined. It is shown that when the attack angle increases from 0 to 10°, the aerodynamic coefficient changes nonlinearly, and this increase corresponds to the experimental values. The developed numerical modeling technique makes it possible to analyze the airflow around both railways rolling stock and automobiles.

Keywords

• aerodynamics
• airstream flow
• computer modeling
• aerodynamic coefficient