Numerical Simulation of the Aerodynamic Behavior of High Velocity Trains under Synthetic Crosswinds of Different Shear and Turbulence Characteristics

A numerical simulation of the aerodynamic behavior of high-speed trains under synthetic crosswinds at a 90º yaw angle is presented. The train geometry is the aerodynamic train model (ATM). Flow description based on numerical simulations is obtained using large eddy simulation (LES) and the commercial code ANSYSFluent V14.5. A crosswind whose averaged velocity and turbulence characteristics change with distance to the ground is imposed. Turbulent fluctuations that vary temporally and spatially are simulated with TurbSim code. The crosswind boundary condition is calculated for the distance the train runs during a simulation period. The inlet streamwise velocity boundary condition is generated using Taylor?s frozen turbulence hypothesis. The model gives a time history of the force and moments acting on the train; this includes averaged values, standard deviations and extreme values. Of particular interest are the spectra of the forces and moments, and the admittance spectra. For comparison, results obtained with LES and a uniform wind velocity fluctuating in time, and results obtained with Reynolds averaged Navier Stokes equations (RANS), and the averaged wind conditions, are also presented.

40Ar/39Ar geochronology of gold mineralization in Brasiliano strike-slip shear zones in the Barborema province, NE Brazil

40Ar/39Ar geochronology of muscovite and biotite grains genetically related to gold and Be–Ta–Li pegmatites from the Seridó Belt (Borborema province, NE Brazil) yield well-defined, reliable plateau ages. This information, combined with data about paragenetic and field relationships, reveals Cambro-Ordovician mineralization ages (520 and 500–506 Ma) for the orogenic gold deposits in the Seridó Belt. Biotite ages of 525±2 Ma, which represent the mean weighted results of the incremental heating analysis of six biotite single crystals, record the time of pegmatite emplacement and reactivation of Brasiliano/Pan-African strike-slip shear zones. These results, along with previous structural evolution studies, suggest that shear zones formed during the Brasiliano/Pan-African event were reactivated in the Upper Cambrian–Lower Ordovician. Mineralization occurs late in the history of the orogen.