Design of large-scale streamlined head cars of high-speed trains and aerodynamic drag calculation

Aerodynamic drag plays an important role in high-speed trains, and how to reduce the aerodynamic drag is one of the most important research subjects related to modern railway systems. This paper investigates a design method for large-scale streamlined head cars of high-speed trains by adopting NURBS theory according to the outer surface characteristics of trains. This method first created the main control lines of the driver cab by inputting control point coordinates; then, auxiliary control lines were added to the main ones. Finally, the reticular region formed by the main control lines and auxiliary ones were filled. The head car was assembled with the driver cab and sightseeing car in a virtual environment. The numerical simulation of train flow field was completed through definition of geometric models, boundary conditions, and space discretization. The calculation results show that the aerodynamic drag of the high-speed train with large-scale streamlined head car decreases by approximately 49.3% within the 50-300 km/h speed range compared with that of the quasi-streamlined high-speed train. This study reveals that the high-speed train with large-scale streamlined head car could achieve the purpose of reducing running aerodynamic drag and saving energy, and aims to provide technical support for the subsequent process design and production control of high-speed train head cars.