Analysis of contact forces between the pantograph and the overhead conductor rail using a validated finite element model

•Contact forces of 2 OCR sections and 11 pantographs at 70, 100 & 130 Km/h.•Span length and pantograph have little influence on contact forces at low speed.•Irregular OCR spans increase contact forces at medium and moderately high speed.•Contact forces amplification occurs at 70 Km/h due to pant...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Engineering structures 2020-12, Vol.225, p.111265, Article 111265
Main Authors: Simarro, Montserrat, Postigo, S., Prado-Novoa, Maria, Pérez-Blanca, A., Castillo, Juan J.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Conductors
Contact force
Contact forces
Dispersion
Dynamic interaction
Evolutionary algorithms
Experimental modal analysis
Finite element
Finite element method
Genetic algorithm
Mathematical models
Overhead conductor rail (OCR)
Pantograph
Pantographs
Rigid overhead line
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Summary:•Contact forces of 2 OCR sections and 11 pantographs at 70, 100 & 130 Km/h.•Span length and pantograph have little influence on contact forces at low speed.•Irregular OCR spans increase contact forces at medium and moderately high speed.•Contact forces amplification occurs at 70 Km/h due to pantograph resonances.•The speed increase yields higher contact forces in section transitions. This work presents the study of the interaction between 11 models of pantographs and 2 models of overhead conductor rails (OCR). All the models have been analysed at speeds of 70, 100 and 130 km/h. Furthermore, one of the OCR models used to carry out this study has been previously validated with experimental modal tests. The contact forces between each pantograph and catenary model is obtained in all cases. The analysis of the results reveals the contact forces are influenced by the dispersion in the length of the spans of the OCR sections and the pantograph model for speeds above 100 km/h. Thus, if pantograph resonance is not present, the lower the dispersion, the more constant the forces are. On the contrary, span length variations and the pantograph model have little influence on contact forces at low speeds. In addition, contact forces increase in the transitions between two sections of the overhead conductor rail. This phenomenom becomes more noticeable as the speed of pantograph operation increases.
ISSN:0141-0296
1873-7323
DOI:10.1016/j.engstruct.2020.111265