Investigation of transient aerodynamic pressure of a high-speed train nose passing from a stationary one in a high-speed rotary scaled test setup

Measuring of high-speed train aerodynamic pressure is important in order to calculate the safety of train and track. There are many tests done in this area include full-scale tests to smaller scaled test setups in straight path. Usually setting up this aerodynamic testing equipment for high-speed trains requires very high cost and large space. In addition, they cannot set the exact amount of train speed in each point of path due to the rubber band motivating mechanism. So, in this study, a high-speed rotary scaled model (HRSM) test setup is introduced and constructed for measuring the transient aerodynamic pressure peak of high-speed train with the speed of up to 200 km/h. This test equipment can perform most aerodynamic tests of high-speed trains on a scale of 1–25; the needed area of the HRSM is about 30 times lower than conventional straight test rigs. This test setup is built not only reducing construction costs, but also has the ability to control accurate train speed in each point of path up to 200 km/h, compared with straight test setup. The accommodation of induced wind profiles in straight and rotary model is done in a short numerical simulation and a validation is done with other experimental results, which shows acceptable agreement in estimation of induced peak pressure in straight and rotary model. The results of this research provide valuable outcome as a fundamental for future studies.