Towards Aerodynamically Optimized Freight Wagons: An Experimental Study on Container Designs

Öngüner, Emir; Henning, Аrne; Fey, Uwe; Wagner, Claus

doi:10.1007/978-3-030-25253-3_42

Cited by 1 publication

(1 citation statement)

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“…At current operational speeds of 80-110km/h, with plans of up to 160km/h [1], the aerodynamic drag of freight trains contributes significantly (~40%) to the total driving resistance [2]. The conventional design of freight trains provides great potential for aerodynamic optimization such as optimized loading configurations, filled inter-car gaps and covering loads with fairings [3,4]. Previous studies have shown that single measures in a specific configuration such as side skirts on tank wagons [3] and fairings on the under-body of auto-carrying or passenger wagons [5] lead to a significant decrease in the aerodynamic drag.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Aerodynamic optimization of a next-generation freight-train wagon

Buhr¹,

Bell²,

Öngüner³

et al.

Civil-Comp Conferences

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The research presented focuses on reducing the aerodynamic drag of standard freight wagons by optimizing their geometry to improve energy-efficient operation and reduce the overall carbon footprint. Within the scope of this work, a variety of aerodynamic measures for an improved underbody geometry of conventional freight wagons have been investigated in a wind-tunnel experiment to provide a detailed overview of their effectiveness in drag reduction. The experiments were performed at a Reynolds number of 5.0×10 5 in the Crosswind Simulation Facility at DLR Göttingen with an optimized moving-ground condition simulated by a moving belt. The pivoted mounting system of the model enabled crosswind investigations with yaw angles of the model up to 10°, which corresponds to typical crosswind flow conditions during operation. The simplified geometry of a Lgs580 freight wagon was used as a generic baseline model in a scale of 1:10, to which aerodynamic improvements were added and compared. The aerodynamic drag was evaluated in terms of the aerodynamic forces on the full freight wagon model with container, which were measured with a 6-component strain-gauge balance between the mounting sting and the base plate of the freight wagon model. More than 50 different configurations were measured and further combinations are considered for future measurements in view of the benefits of single measures. Five selected measures are presented here based on the feasibility and the significant effect on the aerodynamic drag. The results have shown that simple, feasible measures like covering of roughness in the base frame design provide a significant decrease in the aerodynamic drag by 8-24%. A full fairing on the underbody was identified as the best aerodynamic measure with a decrease of 31%. The full

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%