Vibrations of the overhead catenary caused by the passage of a high-speed train through the track stiffness discontinuity

Abstract

The paper presents the methodology for simulating vibrations of the railway catenary, caused by the passage of the train through the track stiffness discontinuity. The concept of the simulation algorithm takes into account the dynamic interaction between pantographs and the overhead contact wire as well as nonlinearity resulting from the specificity of the droppers behaviour, which do not carry compression - they only carry tensile forces. The coupling of track and rail vehicles vibrations is also included. According to physics, the effect of vibrations of the catenary carried by pantographs on the railway vehicle was not taken into account, which allowed to divide the simulation algorithm into two stages and develop two computer programs with a defined hierarchy of operation. In the first stage of the simulation, the time-histories of vibrations and vibration velocities of those train cars, on which the pantographs are mounted, are calculated. In the second stage, the previously calculated time-histories are set as the input data and the vibration characteristics of the catenary and contact force between pantograph and the contact wire are calculated. The paper presents examples of vibration simulations of a rail vehicle observed in real time at the theoretical point of the pantograph base. The results of the second stage of the simulation were also shown: selected vibration time-histories of the pantograph and the five-span section of the catenary, and oscillations of the contact force between pantograph and the contact wire. The impact of the track stiffness discontinuity on catenary vibration was assessed.