Wind tunnel study of coal dust release from train wagons

The paper presents a wind tunnel study to assess the coal dust released due to aeolian erosion from wagons equipped with two different shelter cover systems. A 1:25 scale model was used, and it comprises one locomotive and four train wagons with a 3.55 m maximum length. Several tests were conducted for different train configurations, and two initial load levels, with an undisturbed flow velocity of 13.4 m/s. Experiments show the use of covers reduces the amount of dust released to be less than 20% of the quantity eroded from the uncovered wagon. Results are primarily related to time series of released mass, for different conditions. Free-surface time evolution inside the last wagon is shown to illustrate marked differences by using the two distinct cover systems.