Experimental analysis on the effect of windbreak fences on railway vehicles

In the Politecnico di Milano wind tunnel a series of tests has been carried out to study the properties of different windbreak barriers for the high speed railways lines. A possible problem in the wind tunnel testing of these devices is the necessity to realize wide scenarios (long barriers) and to achieve high Reynolds number values to avoid scaling problems. At a first stage the Reynolds number sensitivity has been checked through specific tests, while in a second one different barriers have been tested to identify the most suitable ones to obtain the desired sheltering properties.