Vehicle wind speed measurement has always been a vital issue when assessing the aerodynamic performance of a high-speed train in cross winds. Conventional anemometers are not applicable in the extreme environment caused by trains. In this work, a new wind speed measurement method is proposed, and a cylindrical anemometer to simultaneously measure the wind speed and direction is presented. The instrument consists of a cylinder with 12 evenly distributed holes that connect to 12 differential pressure sensors. Thus, the pressure distribution developed by the wind on the lateral surface of the cylinder is obtained. Then, theoretical relations among 3 neighboring pressure maxima and the wind speed and wind direction are formulated and validated with a wind tunnel test, where the fabricated anemometer is rotated at 10° intervals under a wind speed of 5-60 m/s. Field tests are conducted to assess the environmental adaptability of the proposed anemometer. The experimental results show that the proposed method and developed anemometer can be applied for air flow measurements and have high accuracy, reliability and durability.

With the increase in high-speed train (HST) operation speed, the light-weight design of the train body and component structure is pursued to reduce energy consumption during operation, but this seriously deteriorates the aerodynamic performance of the light-weight structure outside the train body under the effect of strong unsteady airflow, and the more obvious case is the frequently occurring problem of vibration, large deformation, and damage to the rubber exterior windshield at the connection position of HST carriages. We investigate the fluid–structure coupling mechanism of the interaction between the rubber external windshield and aerodynamic force, and compare the dynamic characteristics of windshield structure under different design parameters. A numerical simulation of three rubber outer windshield structure parameters (sidewall distance of U-shaped capsule, sidewall thickness, sidewall inclination angle) is carried out using FSI simulation of the two-way coupling method. The aerodynamic load, airflow dynamics around the windshield, and the nonlinear vibration and deformation form of the windshield is analyzed in detail. The results show that the aerodynamic response of the HST rubber external windshield analyzed by the FSI method is in good agreement with the full-scale test results. Additionally, the stiffness of the windshield can be improved by increasing the thickness of the windshield sidewall. When the distance between the sidewall of the windshield is increased, an insufficient thickness at the top of the arc causes a large local deformation at the top of the arc of the windshield. The method established and relevant research results can provide good support for the aerodynamic stability evaluation of HST windshields.

This study employs the improved delayed detached eddy simulation method to investigate the effects of streamline-blunted aerodynamic braking plates on the aerodynamic characteristics of a three-car high-speed train under yaw angles of 30° and 45° at Re = 5.0 × 105. The accuracy of the numerical method is validated against the reduced-scale wind tunnel experiments. The results show that the braking plates strengthen local flow separation, shear layer roll up, and flow fluctuations in the upper and leeward-side regions, thereby interrupting the accelerated flow corridor above the train and reorganizing the dominant separated flow on the leeward side. Their influence is concentrated mainly in the head and tail regions, whereas the middle car is affected much less. As the yaw angle increases from 30° to 45°, the global crosswind-induced separation becomes stronger, while the local effect of the braking plates around the head car becomes more diffuse and the corresponding variation in the tail region remains relatively small. The drag enhancement is governed mainly by pressure redistribution over both the plate surfaces and the train body. Specifically, a clear pressure difference is established between the windward and leeward faces of each plate, while the positive pressure in the head car region and the suction in the tail car region are both enhanced. Compared with the original configuration, the drag coefficient of the whole train increases from 0.288 to 1.934 at 30° and from −0.080 to 1.314 at 45°, whereas the changes in lateral force and lift remain limited.

This numerical study investigates flow characteristics around a uniformly porous-coated, infinitely square cylinder in subcritical flow regimes, analyzing the effects of porous media parameters on surface pressure distribution, aerodynamic loads (lift fluctuations and drag), and vortex shedding patterns. A validated computational framework combining Large Eddy Simulation (LES) and the Perturbed Convective Wave Equation (PCWE) method was employed, with verification against established experimental and numerical datasets. The time-averaged flow results and turbulent statistics are discussed together with available experimental data showing a fairly good agreement. Results demonstrate that porous media coatings fundamentally alter near-wake dynamics through stabilization of boundary layer separation, wake widening, and attenuation of vortex shedding intensity. These modifications collectively enhance leeward base pressure, ultimately achieving significant reductions in drag and lift coefficient. Optimal performance was achieved with porous layer applied to the two sides surfaces, yielding 31.06% reduction in time-averaged drag coefficient, 79.02% decrease in time-averaged lift coefficient, noise reduction of 12.2 dB (11.5%) was achieved at the monitoring point located 50A (A denotes the side length of the square cylinder) laterally from the cylinder centerline. These findings provide theoretical foundations for developing drag and noise mitigation strategies in high-speed train components such as pantographs and bogies.