Railway vehicles internal pressure models: an assessment based on experimental data

Among the aerodynamic aspects affecting railway vehicle operation, pressure loads and internal pressure dynamics are relevant to both structural safety and passenger comfort. Therefore, accurately modelling and predicting train internal pressure is essential. This study uses experimental data from four trains with different air-tightness characteristics to validate a set of internal pressure models based on different mathematical formulations and physical representations. The models are calibrated against experimental data and subsequently used to simulate pressure evolution, with their performance assessed through dedicated accuracy indices. The results indicate that the most appropriate physical modelling approach depends on train air-tightness, while simple first-order models provide a robust and conservative solution across all cases, offering an effective compromise between accuracy and simplicity. The study also provides rare experimental validation of internal pressure models using full-scale train measurements, contributing new insights to a field where comprehensive experimental comparisons remain limited.