2001 Volume 42 Issue 2 Pages 110-114
The effect of aeroacoustic noise on the sound level of Shinkansen train on the ground becomes increasingly important as the maximum speed increases. In order to simulate the effect of the ground that moves relative to the vehicle, a pair of mirror image models are tested at the Maibara Wind Tunnel which has an excellent low background noise level. Sound levels generated by several combinations of front shapes, bogie conditions and inter-car gaps are measured by a sound concentrating microphone with a paraboloidal reflector. Measurements of flow properties show that the noise is mainly generated by the vortices that are separated at the leading edge of the bogie section, travel leeward at the convective flow speed, and then impinge upon the trailing edge of the section.