How much does rail shape matter?

Rail Lab

Change a rail’s shape and lean and see the lift and drag on it. Values come from 51 free-surface CFD simulations of a rail cross-section at 3.4 m/s.

Mode

Rail

apex (widest point) 0.25

low · full & boxyhigh · rolled

bottom edge 2.5 mm

sharp cornerfully soft

thickness 2.62″

2.25″3.00″

lean 7.5°

trimmingrailed over

Rail B

lock a slider to match Rail A

apex B 0.70 same as A

bottom edge B 2.5 mm same as A

thickness B 2.62″ same as A

lean B 7.5° same as A

Rail section · 5.5 cm deep · 3.4 m/s

green dots = simulated cases with error bars · line = this rail, interpolated · band = uncertainty · large dot = current setting

lift vs baseline

±0%

165 ± 1 N absolute

absolute values carry a further ±6% uncertainty from mesh resolution

⚠ sharp edge: unsteady flow, lift varies ±5%

drag vs baseline

±0%

28 N absolute

lift-to-drag vs baseline

±0%

5.9 absolute