Energy efficiency analysis of railway turnout heating with a simplified snow model using classical and contactless heating method

Electrical heating of railway turnouts is a considerable technical and economic challenge, hence the need to conduct research for optimization of a railway turnouts heating system. This paper presents results of a numerical analysis and experimental research on heating systems mounted on rail turnouts in line with the classical method and including a heater thermally insulated from the base of a rail. The numerical calculations of the heating processes were carried out in ANSYS software.