Aerodynamic characteristics of windbreak wall–wind barrier transition section along high-speed railways during strong crosswinds

Abstract

In the embankment–bridge transition section of high-speed railroads, solid windbreak walls and porous wind barriers serve as primary engineering measures to mitigate the effects of strong winds. This study investigates the mechanisms by which the aerodynamic performance of the transition section between solid windbreak walls and porous wind barriers deteriorates. Aerodynamic loads on trains, bridges, and wind barriers are analyzed in this study, which also examines the evolution of flow field characteristics and power spectral density (PSD) across spatial and temporal scales, based on wind tunnel tests, flow visualization tests, and computational fluid dynamics methods. The results reveal that the presence of double-sided wind barriers alters the distribution of turbulence intensity and vortex structures near the bridge–wind barriers compared to single-sided wind barriers. Additionally, double-sided wind barriers greatly increase the aerodynamic loads on trains and bridge–wind barriers compared to single-sided wind barriers. Furthermore, the peak PSD values for bridge-wind barriers with double-sided wind barriers are 1.9–4 times higher than those with single-sided wind barriers. Consequently, the single-sided wind barrier may be a more suitable choice for handling unidirectional crosswinds, considering construction costs and structural safety concerns for both the bridge and the wind barrier.