Crosswinds and Trains

Vedika Bedi, U6th Student

My project was to investigate how crosswinds affect trains. During the project I saw how the application of flow physics had a significant impact on train design.

The high pressure on the surface of a train can lead to derailment or overturning, so it is important that it is reduced to a minimum. Crosswinds are increasingly becoming an issue, since development is leading to a decrease in the mass of trains in order to increase energy efficiency. By understanding train aerodynamics in different situations, innovative solutions can be found to combat these problems. PhD Student Anam helped me greatly during the first day of the project in understanding the problems and using the literature reviews to appreciate experimental methodologies. The effect of crosswinds may be assessed using models. The most realistic would obviously be a practicable, so smaller scaled down models are used. The University of Birmingham has a similar test facility in Derby, in which they investigate different size scale models on a moving track and in a wind tunnel.

Anam informed me that a 1:25 scale model of the train was to be tested. Seeing the wind tunnel in operation proved to be a most interesting experience, as I observed the data being measured and recorded on a data logger and consequently loaded onto a laptop with software that would interpret the results.

The project proved to be fascinating and taught me a lot about the significance of crosswinds on

full-scale moving model, however this not at all

trains.