Correlation between cargo properties and train overturning safety for a high-speed freight train under strong winds

Abstract

The high-speed railway has become an important passenger transport mode. Relying on the abundant passenger transport experience and expansive railway network, the high-speed freight train (HSFT) is feasible to be developed and has great application potential. As a critical component of HSFT, the cargo plays an important role in the overturning safety of HSFT under strong wind conditions. Previous studies about the aerodynamic performance of the high-speed train usually regarded the loaded carbody as an individual rigid body. Limited attention was paid to the variability inside the vehicle. In order to improve the running safety of HSFT under strong wind conditions, the multibody dynamics simulation is adopted to demonstrate the effect of cargo property on the overturning risk of HSFT under the aerodynamic loads obtained through the computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations. It is demonstrated that the inner side crosswind is more dangerous than the outer side crosswind. The speed of HSFT should be limited according to the cargo quantity, and the maximum speed for a fully loaded HSFT can be 305 km/h when the crosswind velocity is 20 m/s. The larger cargo density should be encouraged because it is good for train overturning safety in severe working conditions.

KEYWORDS:

• High-speed freight train
• Cargo properties
• Overturning safety
• Crosswinds
• Computational fluid dynamics
• Multibody dynamics

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

The work described in this paper was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 52202426), the Open Project of Key Laboratory of Traffic Safety on Track of Ministry of Education, Central South University (Grant No. 502401002), Start-up Fund for RAPs under the Strategic Hiring Scheme of The Hong Kong Polytechnic University (Grant No. 1-BD23), the Natural Science Foundation of Hunan Province, China (Grant No. 2020JJ4737). The work described in this paper was also supported by a grant (RIF) from the Research Grants Council of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (SAR), China (Grant No. R-5020-18) and a grant from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. U1934209). The authors would also like to appreciate the funding supported by the Innovation and Technology Commission of the Hong Kong SAR Government (Grant No. K-BBY1), the Hong Kong and Macau Joint Research and Development Fund of Wuyi University (Grants No. 2019WGALH15, 2019WGALH17, 2021WGALH15), Guangdong Basic and Applied Basic Research Fund for Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Research Team Project (Grant No. 2021B1515130006),. and The Hong Kong Polytechnic University’s Postdoctoral Matching Fund Scheme [grant number 1-W21X].