Alleviating Aural Discomfort of Passengers on Shinkansen by Controlling Airflow Rate in Ventilation System

When a Shinkansen(Japanese bullet train) passes through a tunnel, the pressure changes due to the pressure wave in the tunnel penetrate the cars. This gives rise to aural discomfort in passengers, which becomes severe when two trains pass each other in the tunnel. In this paper, a new ventilation system for alleviating this aural discomfort is described. A method of numerical simulation of the pressure change outside and inside the train is also presented. A field test has been carried out to confirm the fundamental performance of the system using Shinkansen electric cars Series 300 and the results are compared with those of the numerical simulation. Moreover, the applicability of the system to a superhigh-speed train traveling at 350 km / h is ascertained by numerical simulation.