Assessment of railway pantograph-catenary interaction performance with realistic pantograph strip imperfection

Abstract

In high-speed rail operations, the pantograph-catenary system is commonly utilised to transmit electricity to the high-speed train. This is achieved through a sliding contact between the pantograph strip and the contact wire of the catenary. The pantograph strip, typically made of softer carbon material, is designed to experience wear, ensuring that the replaceable and cost-effective strip is more likely to deteriorate than the contact wire. However, imperfections in the pantograph strip can adversely affect the interaction performance of the pantograph-catenary system. To quantify the effect of pantograph strip imperfections on the interaction performance, this paper aims to incorporate the measurement data of pantograph strip wear into the numerical simulation of pantograph-catenary interaction. The study collected 58 sets of measurement data on pantograph strip wear from Shanghai Hongqiao station. By employing a well-developed pantograph-catenary model, several numerical simulations were conducted to investigate the dispersion of dynamic behaviours caused by strip wear. The results demonstrate that the inclusion of strip imperfections introduces a certain level of dispersion in the interaction behaviours of the pantograph-catenary system. Specifically, at the operating speed of 300 km/h, strip imperfections can lead to a 16.62% increase in the standard deviation of the contact force and an overall decrease in the minimum contact force. Consequently, it is crucial to update the technical specifications to account for the impact of pantograph strip disturbances. Furthermore, each strip's wear induces a comparable level of dispersion in the contact force standard deviation. However, the contact force on the rear strip typically exhibits greater fluctuation, making it a significant contributor to the overall interaction performance.