Railway catenary optimisation with span variability by an iterative optimisation algorithm for large numbers of parameters

Abstract

Optimising the catenary topology to improve the pantograph–catenary interaction is computationally expensive. Especially in the case of large numbers of parameters. Unfortunately, varying span lengths and dropper distribution in realistic systems requires the inclusion of a vast number of parameters, making the optimisation problem extremely complicated. Published optimisation works assume that the catenary is a perfectly periodical structure to reduce the number of parameters involved in the optimisation and keep the computational cost below a feasible limit. This paper attempts to deal with the scientific challenge of optimising a realistic system by proposing an iterative optimisation strategy consisting of optimising groups of parameters separately and repeating the optimisations iteratively to consider the dependence between parameters that otherwise would need to be optimised together. This solution performs topological catenary optimisation in catenary zones with span variability or transition zones in which optimisations that assume periodicity are no longer valid.