Keywords: high-speed trains, railway tunnels, pressure wave, one-dimensional unsteady compressible non-homentropic flow model, method of characteristics.

When high-speed trains travel through tunnels, large pressure variations are generated in the tunnels. The pressure waves transmitted into the carriages may cause aural discomfort problems. Also, fatigue failure of the car body and relational components under the pressure wave must be considered. It is thus essential to predict the pressure wave caused by the trains travelling through the tunnels accurately and rapidly. Computer programs which can predict the pressure wave caused by a single train or two crossing trains in the tunnel are introduced and validated in this paper. One-dimensional, compressible, unsteady, and non-homentropic flow model and the method of characteristics of generalized Riemann variables are used in these programs. The CRH380AL train which is one type of the China Railways High-speed trainsets and the railway tunnel with a typical length in the Beijing-Shanghai high-speed rail line are studied. The generation of pressure waves is depicted through the spatial and temporal variations in pressure. The reason the pressure wave caused by two crossing trains is more severe than that caused by the single train is qualitatively analyzed. The effect of train speed and blockage ratio on the maximum and minimum pressure excursion outside the carriages is studied. The results can be used in the fatigue strength design of the car body and relational components.

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