%0 Journal Article
%T Effect of the inter
%A Jiye Zhang
%A Ming Li
%A Tian Li
%A Zheng Wang
%J Proceedings of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, Part F: Journal of Rail and Rapid Transit
%@ 2041-3017
%D 2019
%R 10.1177/0954409718799809
%X In wind tunnel experiments, the inter-car gaps are designed in such a way as to separate the force measurements for each car and prevent the interference between cars during tests. Moreover, the inter-car gap has a significant effect on the aerodynamic drag of a train. In order to guide the design of the inter-car gaps between cars in wind tunnel experiments, the impact of the inter-car gap length on the aerodynamic characteristics of a 1/8th scale high-speed train is investigated using computational fluid dynamics. The shear stress transport k-¦Ø model is used to simulate the flow around a high-speed train. The aerodynamic characteristics of the train with 10 different inter-car gap lengths are numerically simulated and compared. The 10 different inter-car gap lengths are 5, 8, 10, 15, 20, 30, 40, 50, 60, and 80£¿mm. Results indicate that the aerodynamic drag coefficients obtained using computational fluid dynamics fit the experimental data well. Rapid pressure variations appear in the upper and lower parts of the inter-car gaps. With the increase of the inter-car gap length, the drag force coefficient of the head car gradually increases. The total drag force coefficients of the trains with the inter-car gap length less than 10£¿mm are practically equal to those of the trains without inter-car gaps. Therefore, it can be concluded from the present study that 10£¿mm is recommended as the inter-car gap length for the 1/8th scale high-speed train models in wind tunnel experiments
%K Inter-car gap
%K computational fluid dynamics
%K aerodynamics
%K wind tunnel experiment
%U https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/0954409718799809