Active control of aerodynamic noise in a high-speed train bogie section using a dielectric barrier discharge plasma actuator

This study presents an experimental investigation on the active control of the aerodynamic noise in the bogie section of high-speed trains using a dielectric barrier discharge plasma actuator (DBD-PA). Parametric studies on the Reynolds numbers, frequency, and voltage were carried out on models without a bogie and with a simplified trailer bogie in a wind tunnel. The results demonstrated that the DBD-PA could influence the aerodynamic noise within the region of the high-speed rail bogie. When the DBD-PA was installed on the leading-edge inner wall of the tested models, its effect on the sound pressure level inside the bogie compartment was not obvious. When the DBD-PA was installed on the bottom surface of the leading edge, it was able to reduce the sound pressure level in a portion of the frequency band above 1 kHz under all test conditions. However, such control effect reduced with the increase of Reynolds number. In addition, at Reynolds numbers of 2.1\times 10^5 and 2.9\times 10^5 , the maximum sound pressure level reduction values of the model with a simplified trailer bogie under the C1 test condition were 23.95 dB and 7.11 dB, respectively, which were notably larger than those observed under other test conditions.