Aerodynamic analysis on the step types of a railway tunnel with non-uniform cross-section

The pressure-mitigating effects of a high-speed train passing through a tunnel with a partially reduced cross-section are investigated via the numerical approach. A compressible, three-dimensional RNG k-Εturbulence model and a hybrid mesh strategy are adopted to reproduce that event, which is validated by the moving model test. Three step-like tunnel forms and two additional transitions at the tunnel junction are proposed and their aerodynamic performance is compared and scrutinized with a constant cross-sectional tunnel as the benchmark. The results show that the tunnel step is unrelated to the pressure mitigation effects since the case of a double-step tunnel has no advantage in comparison to a single-step tunnel, but the excavated volume is an essential matter. The pressure peaks are reduced at different levels along with the increase of the excavated earth volume and the peaks are either fitted with power or logarithmic function relationships. In addition, the Arc and Oblique-transitions have very limited gaps, and their pressure curves are identical to each other, whereas the Rec-transition leads to relatively lower pressure peaks in CP max, CP min, and ΔCP, with 5.2%, 4.0%, and 4.1% relieved compared with Oblique-transition. This study could provide guidance for the design of the novel railway tunnel.