Abstract
Reduction of aerodynamic noise emitted from a panhead is a very important subject for environmental preservation and speed-up of Shinkansen trains. In the present study, control of flow around pantograph panhead using a plasma actuator was studied by using large eddy simulation (LES). The results of numerical simulation suggest two effects of plasma actuator. When a body force generated by plasma actuator is small, interference between the shear layer and the induced flow from plasma actuator suppresses generation of von Karman vortices. On the other hand, when a body force is large, the shear layers are drawn to the panhead surface and the separation from the panhead is almost prevented. By these effects, the plasma actuator can control shear layer and reduce aerodynamic noise from the panhead.
