Operational Safety Assessment of a High-Speed Train Exposed to the Strong Gust Wind

The operational safety characteristics of trains exposed to a strong wind have caused great concern in recent years.In the present paper,the effect of the strong gust wind on a high-speed train is investigated.A typical gust wind model for any wind angle,named“Chinese hat gust wind model”,was first constructed,and an algorithm for computing the aerodynamic loads was elaborated accordingly.A vehicle system dynamic model was then set up in order to investigate the vehicle system dynamic characteristics.The assessment of the operational safety has been conducted by means of characteristic wind curves(CWC).As some of the parameters of the wind-train system were difficult to measure,we also investigated the impact of the uncertain system parameters on the CWC.Results indicate that,the descending order of the operational safety index of the vehicle for each wind angle is 90°-60°-120°-30°-150°,and the worst condition for the operational safety occurs when the wind angle reaches around 90°.According to our findings,the gust factor and aerodynamic side force coefficient have great impact on the critical wind speed.Thus,these two parameters require special attention when considering the operational safety of a railway vehicle subjected to strong gust wind.