The 22nd COTA International Conference of Transportation Professionals (CICTP 2022)

When two high-speed maglev trains intersect in a tunnel, the pressure rises sharply, which cause serious damage on the train and tunnel structure. This problem is worthy of further study especially when the train speed goes up to 600 km/h and more. In this paper, the three-dimensional, compressible, unsteady, k-ɛ two-equation turbulence model and sliding grid technology were used to study the influence of speed on the pressure waves induced by two maglev trains intersecting in a tunnel. The numerical simulation method used in this paper was validated against the results from moving model tests. The tunnel length in simulations is 2 km, and the blockage ratio of the train cross-section area to the tunnel is 0.196. The maglev trains are specified to intersect in the middle of the tunnel with speeds of 400 km/h-400 km/h, 450 km/h-450 km/h, 500 km/h-500 km/h, 550 km/h-550 km/h, 600 km/h-600 km/h, and 660 km/h-660 km/h, respectively. The transient pressures on the maglev train and tunnel surface have been discussed. The main conclusions in this paper are as follows: The transient pressures on the maglev train and tunnel surface show significant relationship with the train speed. Generally, the peak-to-peak values of the tunnel surface pressure follow the power law relationship with an exponent of 2.2-2.9 to the train speed. The maxima of the train surface pressure can obtain a exponent of 3.1 to the train speed. All those will provide strong support for the design of the high-speed maglev train and tunnel.

High-speed maglev train;Transient pressure;Train/tunnel interaction