Abstract
In summer, the high ambient air temperatures and increased solar radiation cause rises in rail temperatures, and rails can experience the buckling. In this study, a thermofluidic analysis was conducted to predict the temperature of a rail. Numerical simulations were performed by changing the orientation of the rails. The south-north rail and the east-west rail was named “0° rail” and “90° rail”, respectively. The numerical results from the 0° and 90° rails were validated by comparing them with measured values. Based on this validation, the temperature distribution of a 45° rail was analyzed. The total amount of energies received by the rail were in the order of 0° > 45° > 90°. The results of this study showed that the temperature of a rail can be sufficiently predicted through numerical simulation, and this approach can be used in a forecast to predict a time when buckling might occur.
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Abbreviations
- a:
-
Absorption coefficient
- C P :
-
Specific heat
- g:
-
Gravity
- I:
-
Radiation intensity
- k:
-
Thermal conductivity
- n:
-
Refractive index
- p:
-
Static pressure
- q:
-
Solar heat flux
- Q:
-
Total absorbed solar radiative heat
- \({\vec r}\) :
-
Position vector
- \({\vec s}\) :
-
Direction vector
- \(\vec s\prime \) :
-
Scattering direction vector
- \(\vec v\) :
-
Velocity vector
- ρ:
-
Density of air
- σ:
-
Stefan-Boltzmann constant
- σs :
-
Scattering coefficient
- Φ:
-
Phase function
- Ω′:
-
Solid angle
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Acknowledgments
This work was supported by the Railroad Technology Research Program (RTRP) grant (no. 19RTRP-B 113581-04) funded by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, and Transport of the Korean government.
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Sang Hyeon Han received his B.S. degree at Department of Mechanical Engineering of Chungnam National University, Korea, in 2019 and is currently in his M.S. degree at Chungnam National University, Korea since 2019. His research interests are in combustion engineering, propulsion system, and fuel cell system.
Su Ha Hwang received his B.S. degree at the Department of Mechanical Engineering at Chungnam National University, Korea, in 2017, and his M.S. degree in 2019. He has worked in the DTaQ (Defense Agency for Technology and Quality) as a junior engineer. His research interests are in combustion engineering, propulsion system, and CFD.
Hong Jip Kim is a Professor at School of Mechanical Engineering of Chungnam National University, Korea. His research interests are in combustion phenomena, thermo-acoustic instability, combustion instabilities in various combustors and propulsion systems.
Seong J. Cho is Associate Professor at School of Mechanical Engineering of Chungnam National University, Korea. His research interests are in advanced sensor system, Nano/micro materials, MEMS/NEMS, advanced fabric, biomedical engineering, biomimetics, and bio-sensor.
Nam Hyoung Lim is a Professor at Department of Civil Engineering of Chung-nam National University, Korea. His research interests are in railway and track engineering, steel structure engineering, and structural engineering.
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Han, S.H., Hwang, S.H., Kim, H.J. et al. Numerical study on the characteristics of temperature distribution in continuous welded rail by solar radiation and rail orientation. J Mech Sci Technol 34, 4819–4829 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12206-020-1038-y
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12206-020-1038-y