Keywords: thermal comfort, computational fluid dynamics, TGV, high-speed trains, ventilation ducting, optimisation.

The French National Railway Company, SNCF, has conducted a research program on thermal comfort in order to better understand passengers' perception of comfort and improve specifications for new trains and train refurbishment programs. First surveys showed that passengers found the ventilation uncomfortable in winter, particularly in the seats next to the window ventilation grills.

SNCF therefore wanted to improve the flow exiting the window ventilation ducting in order to improve passenger thermal comfort in winter conditions. As an initial step, this was to be done using computational fluid dynamics (CFD).

The CFD project was divided into two parts. Part 1 focused on developing a simplified CFD model of a section of a typical high speed and regional express train passenger car in order to understand current operating conditions and test various ideas for improving thermal comfort. Part 2 focussed on the modelling of a TGV passenger car using an optimised ventilation ducting identified in Part 1.

An optimised ducting was identified and resulted in a more uniform air velocity profile exiting the window ventilation grills. A comparison of CFD results from parts 1 and 2 validated the approach of using a simplified model to define the optimised ducting.

purchase the full-text of this paper (price £20)

go to the previous paper
go to the next paper
return to the table of contents
return to the book description
purchase this book (price £65 +P&P)