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Impact of the windbreak transition on flow structures of the high-speed railway and mitigation using oblique structure and circular curve structure transition

Zheng-Wei Chen (National Rail Transit Electrification and Automation Engineering Technology Research Center (Hong Kong Branch), Kowloon, China and Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Kowloon, China)
Guang-Zhi Zeng (National Rail Transit Electrification and Automation Engineering Technology Research Center (Hong Kong Branch), Kowloon, China and Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Kowloon, China)
Syeda Anam Hashmi (Birmingham Centre for Railway Research and Education, School of Civil Engineering, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, UK)
Tang-Hong Liu (Key Laboratory of Traffic Safety on Track of Ministry of Education, School of Traffic and Transportation Engineering, Central South University, Changsha, China; Joint International Research Laboratory of Key Technology for Rail Traffic Safety, Changsha, China and National and Local Joint Engineering Research Center of Safety Technology for Rail Vehicle, Changsha, China)
Lei Zhou (Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Clear Water Bay, Kowloon, China)
Jie Zhang (Key Laboratory of Traffic Safety on Track of Ministry of Education, School of Traffic and Transportation Engineering, Central South University, Changsha, China; Joint International Research Laboratory of Key Technology for Rail Traffic Safety, Changsha, China and National and Local Joint Engineering Research Center of Safety Technology for Rail Vehicle, Changsha, China)
Hassan Hemida (Birmingham Centre for Railway Research and Education, School of Civil Engineering, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, UK)

International Journal of Numerical Methods for Heat & Fluid Flow

ISSN: 0961-5539

Article publication date: 20 February 2023

Issue publication date: 24 April 2023

188

Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to investigate the variations in the flow fields induced by transition regions in the windbreak structures between the flat ground and the cutting along a railway and to propose mitigation measures to improve the windproof ability of the windbreak.

Design/methodology/approach

The improved delayed detached eddy simulation method was used to simulate the impact of the windbreak transition on flow structures of the high-speed railway under different wind angles, and also the accuracy of the numerical results was validated with those of the wind tunnel test.

Findings

The results showed that the original windbreak transition region resulted in a dimensionless peak wind velocity of 0.62 and 0.82 for railway line-1 at wind angles of 90° and 75°, respectively, and the corresponding values were 0.81 and 0.97 for railway line-2. The flow structure analysis revealed the reason for the mismatched height in the transition region, and the right-angle structures of the windbreaks resulted in ineffective protection and sudden changes in the wind speed and direction. Two mitigation measures – oblique structure (OS) and circular curve structure (CCS) transition walls – were developed to reduce the peak wind speed. The OS provided superior protection. The peak value of dimensionless wind velocity was all less than 0.2 for OS and CCS.

Originality/value

The flow field deterioration mechanism induced by the inappropriate form of a windbreak transition at different wind angles was examined, and effective mitigation and improvement measures were proposed and compared with the original transition.

Keywords

Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 52202426), the National Key R&D Program of China (Grant No. 2020YFA0710903) and the Open Project of Key Laboratory of Traffic Safety on Track of Ministry of Education, Central South University (Grant No. 502401002).

Conflict of interest: The authors declare that there is no conflict of interest.

Citation

Chen, Z.-W., Zeng, G.-Z., Hashmi, S.A., Liu, T.-H., Zhou, L., Zhang, J. and Hemida, H. (2023), "Impact of the windbreak transition on flow structures of the high-speed railway and mitigation using oblique structure and circular curve structure transition", International Journal of Numerical Methods for Heat & Fluid Flow, Vol. 33 No. 4, pp. 1354-1378. https://doi.org/10.1108/HFF-07-2022-0407

Publisher

:

Emerald Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2023, Emerald Publishing Limited

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