An Aerothermal Study of Influence of Blockage Ratio on a Supersonic Tube Train System

Evacuated tube transportation is an important development direction for the high-speed transportation technology of the future. However, a train running at supersonic speed in a closed tube can create an unstable aerothermal phenomenon, causing the temperature to rise sharply inside the tube and endangering the safe operation of trains and equipment. The blockage ratio is one of the key factors affecting the aerodynamic characteristics in the tube. In this paper, a 2D axisymmetric model and Delayed Detached Eddy Simulation (DDES) based on the Shear Stress Transport (SST) kappa-omega turbulence model are used to study the aerothermal environment in the tube. The calculation method used in this paper was verified by a wind tunnel experiment. The aerothermal phenomenon and distribution of the flow field in the tube with different blockage ratios were compared and analysed. The results show that the aerothermal environment is significantly affected by the blockage ratio. A choking limit formed in the flow field will aggravate the aerodynamic phenomenon as the blockage ratio increases, which further deteriorates the aerothermal environment of the tube. Moreover, the existence of the choking limit, shock wave, and Mach disk make the flow field in the tube more complicated.

Automated summary

Evacuated tube transportation is an important development direction for future high-speed transportation technology. This study investigates the aerothermal environment in the tube using a 2D axisymmetric model and DDES based on the SST kappa-omega turbulence model. The results show that the aerothermal environment is significantly affected by the blockage ratio, with the choking limit, shock wave, and Mach disk making the flow field more complicated.