A study of snow accumulating on the bogie and the effects of deflectors on the de-icing performance in the bogie region of a high-speed train

The operation of high-speed trains in ice and snow weather results in a large amount of snow accumulation with ice on the bogies, which will pose a risk to the safety of high-speed trains. In this paper, the snow accumulating on the bogie has been investigated using a numerical simulation method based on the Realizable k - ε turbulence model and Discrete Phase Model (DPM). The accuracy of mesh resolution and methodology of CFD was validated by the experimental results of wind tunnel tests. The DPM was used to investigate the mechanism of snow accumulation on the bogie by analysing the characteristics of movement of snow particles. Based on this analysis, two deflectors with the angles of 2.58° and 5.14° were designed, and the anti-snow effect of deflectors for the bogies was compared with numerical results. The results show that lots of snow particles underneath the bogie have direct impacts on the equipment of the bogie, causing massive snow accumulation on the bottom surface. A small amount of snow particles turn back to the region above the bogie from the rear cabin cover, which leads to little snow accumulation on the upper surface of the bogie. The number of particles accumulating on the bottom surface of the bogie is much more than that on the top. Application of deflectors with different angles can improve the anti-snow performance in the bogie region of high-speed trains. The deflector with an angle of 5.14° has the better anti-snow performance. It can reduce the snow accumulation on the whole bogie surfaces by 49.34%, while on the primary heat-producing devices, such as calipers and motors, by 42.47% and 47.40%, respectively.