Crosswind action on rail vehicles: wind tunnel experimental analyses

Extensive wind tunnel tests have been carried out on train scale models. The experimental tests have been performed on three types of rail vehicles, in different configurations. The wind tunnel tests allowed to point out the most critical wind conditions with respect to running safety and to perform a sensitivity analysis on the principal parameters that can influence the aerodynamic behaviour of rail vehicles. In particular, the effects of the turbulence intensity and of the train motion on the aerodynamic coefficients have been studied.