Determination of braking force of aerodynamic brakes for high speed trains

Abstract

This paper presents the results of simulations, carried out with the Fluent software, for a high speed train moving at 70 m/s for 4 cases: the train configuration without aerodynamic brakes, the train configuration with one aerodynamic brake, with two, and with three aerodynamic brakes deployed over the roof of the train. We have determined the braking force per unit area of aerodynamic brakes and compared our results to the results found in literature. Since it is known that the brake panel installed in the first position creates the greatest resistance, while for the brakes in the second and subsequent positions the intensity of resistance decreases, we analyzed the effect of serial interference and determined the contribution of each brake individually to the total braking force, depending on its position.