Wear Of Contact Wire Research Articles

Effects of periodic structures on friction-induced vibrations in catenary-pantograph systems

Friction-induced vibration in catenary-pantograph systems is a well-known instability phenomenon that has not been sufficiently investigated. This instability accelerates the wear of contact wires and requires a train driver to confirm safety, which leads to train delays. Therefore, it is important to elucidate the instability mechanisms and establish countermeasures. To address this issue, we conducted experiments using a real pantograph and a test facility that can simulate sliding conditions by rotating a rigid disk. These experiments characterized the instability reported in actual rail operations. Furthermore, numerical investigations found that the experimental results could be explained by assuming Coulomb friction for an experimentally validated pantograph model. However, this previous study did not examine the effects of the periodic catenary structures or propose countermeasures for their instability contribution. In this study, experiments and simulations based on actual equipment were conducted to investigate the effects of periodic structures. The simulations integrated a finite element method-based catenary model with a flexible multibody dynamics-based pantograph model. The experimental and numerical investigations clarified that the instability is caused by the asymmetry of the stiffness matrix due to Coulomb friction, and that standing waves formed in the contact wires between hangers significantly affect stability. Furthermore, the results suggested that these waves could be the basis of countermeasures for preventing instability. These results can contribute to the design of catenaries and pantographs with improved stability.

Railway Infrastructure Management: Selection of Overhead Contact Line Ampacity Considering Operational and Design Factors

This paper presents a novel approach to determining the ampacity of DC and AC railway overhead contact lines, considering both operational and design factors. The ampacity of contact lines is influenced by several design parameters, including materials, cross section and the number of catenary and contact wires, etc. Additionally, the permissible long-term and short-term current values, which correspond to the permissible temperatures defined by EN 50119:2020, are affected by operational factors such as ambient temperature, solar radiation, heat exchange conditions, wind speed, wear of contact wires. Existing methods for determining the ampacity of overhead contact lines often fail to account adequately for these critical factors and lack the necessary procedures to calculate the 30 min ampacity required by EN 50119:2020. In response, the method proposed in this study adapts the procedures of IEEE 738-2012 to the specific needs of railway contact lines, taking into account the effect of contact wire wear on current distribution and overall ampacity. The proposed method offers a more realistic and practical approach to determining the ampacity of contact lines, thereby enhancing the reliability and efficiency of the traction power supply infrastructure. This method could be useful for railway infrastructure managers to ensure the safe and efficient operation under varying environmental and operational conditions.

Mechanism and suppression of friction-induced vibration in catenary-pantograph system

An unexplained instability phenomenon in railways is known to be caused by sliding friction in a catenary-pantograph system at low speeds. This is an important engineering problem because this instability phenomenon contributes to increased wear of contact wires and requires a train driver to confirm safety, which leads to train delays. Tribological analyses have found an increase in the friction coefficient at low speeds. Pantograph models based on the finite element method, multibody dynamics, and pin-disk model have been proposed for kinematic analyses. However, the mechanism is still uncertain, and no experimental investigations have been conducted. In this study, experimental and numerical investigations are conducted on the instability phenomenon caused by sliding friction. A method for estimating the friction coefficient for an actual pantograph is proposed and applied to experimentally investigate the instability phenomenon. A dynamic model is constructed based on various experiments. The frequency and the stable-unstable boundary of the instability phenomenon obtained in the simulations agree with those obtained in the experiment. From the dynamic model, it is found that the instability is a flutter-type instability caused by the asymmetry of the stiffness matrix due to Coulomb friction. Countermeasures for preventing the instability phenomenon based on the determined mechanism are proposed, and their effectiveness is verified by simulations and experiments. The results could contribute to the design of new pantographs to improve stability and the development of countermeasures for existing pantographs that experience instability.

Influence of main operating conditions on contact wire wear of rigid catenary lines

A validated overhead conductor rail and a well-known wear model have been programmed to perform closer-to-reality simulations. Reliable wear rate estimates for two configurations of overhead conductor rails and three models of pantographs at different speeds and supply currents have been obtained. Results show that wear decreases with increasing speed at high currents and when the distances between supports are uniform. In addition, the use of different types of pantographs in the same facility has a positive effect in terms of wear reduction. Consequently, an adequate selection of the operating conditions contributes to reducing the wear rate.

Measurement Method for Contact Wire Wear Based on Stereovision.

The contact wire wear is an important parameter to ensure the safety operation of electric railways. The contact wire may break if the wear is serious, which leads to transportation interruptions. This study proposes an optical measurement method of contact wire wear, using stereovision technology. The matching method of stereovision based on line-scan cameras is proposed. A lookup-table method is developed to exactly determine the image resolution caused by the contact wire being in different spatial positions. The wear width of the contact wire is extracted from catenaries' images, and the residual thickness of the contact wire is calculated. The method was verified by field tests. The round-robin tests of the residual thickness at the same location present excellent measurement repetitiveness. The maximum difference value between dynamic test results and ground measurement results is 0.13 mm. This research represents a potential way to implement condition-based maintenance for contact wire wear in the future in order to improve the maintenance efficiency and ensure the safety of catenary infrastructure.

Assessment of catenary condition monitoring by means of pantograph head acceleration and Artificial Neural Networks

Measuring the pantograph–catenary interaction force is crucial for homologation and maintenance purposes. However, this is an intricate procedure that requires a specially-instrumented pantograph. As an alternative to the traditional method of measuring the interaction force, we propose in this paper a new procedure to predict the current collection quality (usually quantified by the standard deviation of the interaction force) from the vertical acceleration measurements of the pantograph collector head.The proposed approach consists of properly preprocessing the acceleration signals to train and validate Artificial Neural Networks (ANNs) to predict the standard deviation of the interaction force. First, the proposed method is defined with academic examples in which different ANNs identify dropper defects and severe contact wire wear from numerically generated pantograph accelerations. The normalization of the input data and proper resampling to make samples independent of the train speed are revealed as key aspects in the success of the proposed approach.Also from a numerical point of view, the method is then applied to predict the standard deviation of the contact force. The results obtained show that these predictions have an error of less than a 10%. The analyses of other potential scenarios such as different train operating speed ranges and the use of displacements instead of acceleration as input, show a poor generalization power of the ANNs used. They provide accurate results only when fed with input samples with the same features as those used in the training stage.Finally, the proposed approach is applied to the experimental data obtained from a pantograph lab test bench. In this case, the ANNs are able to predict the current collection quality with less than a 10% error in almost 95% of the cases. This work aimed to be an intermediate step between pure numerical analysis and real data measured on track.

A mechanics principle based inverse technique for real-time monitoring of wear-level of contact wire in pantograph-catenary systems

ABSTRACT In advanced railway systems, electricity is supplied to train through sliding contact of pantograph and power-transmission catenary, which causes continuous wear of transmission wire in pantograph-catenary system (PCS). It is of crucial to monitor wear to ensure the safety and smooth operations of electric trains in terms of precision and efficiency in services. This work has developed a novel inverse procedure that uses measurable mechanical quantities to predict and monitor contact wire wear regardless of whether pantograph passes. The inverse technique is based on rigorous mechanics principle and verified by numerical simulation. Three-dimensional (3D) finite element models (FEM) of PCS is first established to simulate both static mechanics behavior and dynamic contact process during sliding. A useful relationship between wear-level and displacement or contact force has been established through static studies. Intensive nonlinear dynamic contact analysis of PCS is then performed and found that the wear-level relates strongly to displacement variation of collector head, so as to devise an inverse procedure between those two when the train is running. In addition, simple formulae are derived by curve-fitting to estimate wire-level based on either static or dynamic measurements, for easy real-time applications of the results from our 3D FEM study.

РЕЗУЛЬТАТИ СТЕНДОВИХ ВИПРОБУВАНЬ КОВЗНОГО КОНТАКТУ ЕЛЕКТРОТРАНСПОРТУ ПО ВИЗНАЧЕННЮ ЗНОСУ КОНТАКТНОГО ПРОВОДУ

Purpose. Electric rolling stock of railways receives power from a 25 kV AC or 3 kV DC overhead contact network using a high-current sliding contact that transfers energy to locomotive or electric train, while the current can reach values of 2500 A. Of course, the reliability of this sliding contact determines the operational reliability of the unit. electric transport in general. The pantograph of an electric locomotive or electric train is equipped with a pantograph – a pantograph with contact strip, which should damage and wear it to a minimum when sliding along the contact wire. When introducing new materials for pantograph contact strip, they must pass tests, among which there are bench tests to determine the wear of the contact wire. The purpose of the research is to determine the possibility of using various types of linings on the electric rolling stock of railways, with the determination of the value of the wear of the contact wire and its comparison with the standard. Methodology. The main research method is an experiment on a test bench with control of the main indicators, which include – contact current, clamping force, speed of rotation of the disk of the test bench, temperature in the contact zone. The method of bench tests is standardized, in accordance with DSTU GOST 32680: 2016. Results. During the experiments on the test bench, six types of pantograph contact strips were investigated, and the indicators on the amount of contact wire wear were obtained. Determination of the wear of the contact wire is carried out as the difference between the heights of the contact wire before and after the experiment. The wear values of the contact wire were recorded every 10 thousand passes of the test bench disk. The obtained values of wear are stochastic probabilistic in nature, so they were processed by methods of mathematical statistics to determine the value of the mathematical expectation of the amount of wear of the contact wire. Based on the obtained values, the relationships between the amount of wear of the contact wire and the number of revolutions of the test disk of the stand are constructed. Originality. The scientific novelty of the research lies in the obtained relationships between the number of passes and contact wire wear for different types of samples of pantograph contact strips of electric rolling stock of railways, which allows to determine the contact wire resource when implementing different types of current collector inserts. Practical value. The main purpose of bench tests is to reproduce the conditions of actual operation with certain restrictions. Test specimens in bench tests were in the same conditions, so the obtained values of wear of the contact wire for different types of contact strips allow to estimate the possible service life of the sliding high-current contact in real operating conditions. The obtained values are relative, the first type of inserts is accepted as a base sample, which allows to determine the quantitative indicators of wear of contact strips in comparison with this reference sample. The normative value of contact wire wear is 40 μm per 10 thousand passes of the test bench disk. The tests are considered successful if the wear of the contact wire does not exceed the specified standard value. According to the test results, three samples of contact strips were identified, the use of which will not lead to wear of the contact wire above the normative value. Analytical expressions are obtained for three types of contact strips, with the help of which it is possible to obtain comparative values of resource indicators of sliding high-current contact. Figures 11, tables 2, references 13.

Improving the Bench Testing Method of Sliding Contacts of Electric Transport

Purpose. The work is aimed to present the results of a comprehensive study of the bench testing procedure of high-current sliding contact of electric transport, which together provide a basis for proposals, recommendations for improving the standard method of these tests. Methodology. The research is based on two classical methods of scientific research. The first one is the observation and processing of the results of a real experiment in the laboratory; the second is the development of mathematical model for determining the temperature effect in the area of sliding contact on the wear of the contact wire, with subsequent determination of the resource of this sliding contact. Findings. The result of these studies is a list of recommendations on the procedure and content of the program-methodology of bench tests of inserts of current collectors of electric transports. The obtained scientifically substantiated results will allow to assert that their introduction will reduce time, energy and other expenses for performing obligatory bench tests of new samples of current collector inserts. Originality. By means of non-destructive temperature control at the point of current collection of high-current sliding contact, taking into account the temperature limit value during current collection process, for the first time the values of the heating time constant of the «insert fragment – contact wire ring» were obtained for different insert materials. This makes it possible to predict the final result of bench tests as successful or unsuccessful already at the initial testing stage (the first 10 thousand disk passes). Based on statistical processing of experimental data, the dependences of the contact wire wear on the number of test bench passes were obtained, which creates conditions for forecasting the value of contact wire wear during bench tests relative to the reference sample. Practical value. It is experimentally proved that the dependence of the contact wire wear on the number of passes of the test bench disk is linear, which allows accelerated resource testing of high-current sliding contact elements while maintaining the adequacy of the results. In general, the comprehensive application of the received recommendations creates conditions for saving time, energy and other costs when conducting bench tests of sliding contacts of electric transport.

Thermal modes of operation of power-current contact of electric transport during conduct of bench tests

Purpose. Analysis of the results of bench tests of sliding electrical contacts of electric vehicles, in order to determine the thermal regime of the sliding contact.
 Methodology. The initial data were obtained during field experiments on a specialized stand in the laboratory, which were carried out to determine the wear of the contact wire inserts of different types for pantographs of electro-rolling stock of railways. To determine the contact wire temperature at the place of sliding contact, a non-destructive non-contact method of control using a thermal imager was used.
 Findings. During the experimental part of the research, the thermal imaging photographs were obtained, they recorded the temperatures at the place of sliding contact between the insert of the pantograph of the electric rolling stock and the contact wire installed on the test disk. These temperature values were recorded with a certain time interval, which allowed to build the dependences of changes in thermal regime over time, to determine the heating time constant of the "insert-contact wire" of the test bench and to obtain the final temperature value at the end of tests. Accepting the insert sample in which the minimum temperature in the area of sliding contact is as a reference, it becomes possible by the value of the temperature of the contact wire in the area of sliding contact to predict the final test result of other types of pads.
 Originality. Indicators of temperature modes of sliding contact of electric vehicles during bench tests are obtained for the first time, the proposed relative temperature indicator allows to predict the results of bench tests of qualitative indicators of sliding contact of electric vehicles..
 Practical value. Bench tests of inserts of current collectors of electric vehicles are a long procedure, the normative indicator of the number of passes of the current collector on the stand is equal to 500 thousand passes, which requires significant expenditure of time, energy, human resources and others. The indicators proposed according to the test results, namely the heating time constant and the relative temperature index, allow to carry out two-stage tests. At the first stage, with a duration of 10 thousand revolutions of the test bench disk, the proposed indicators are determined and compared with the corresponding reference, in case of their compliance it becomes possible to predict the final test result as successful (contact wire wear less than normal) or unsuccessful. In the latter case, the need for the second stage of testing up to 500 thousand revolutions is questionable, because the end result will be negative, and the significant resources will be involved in the test, and therefore these tests are impractical.

An Investigation on the Current Collection Quality of Railway Pantograph-Catenary Systems With Contact Wire Wear Degradations

In railway pantograph-catenary systems, the contact surfaces undergo wear in long-term operations, directly affecting interaction performance and potentially deteriorating the current collection quality. The effect of contact wire wear (CWW) on the current collection quality should be evaluated to understand the system’s health status in operations. This article presents a stochastic analysis of the pantograph–catenary interaction performance with different levels of CWW based on four years of measurement data. The power spectral density (PSD) estimation is carried out on the measured CWW to obtain their frequency representations. The random time histories of CWW are generated based on the PSDs. A nonlinear finite element model of catenary with a lumped-mass pantograph is built. Using the Monte Carlo method, the stochastic analysis of pantograph-catenary contact force is carried out to investigate the distribution and dispersion of assessment indices with different levels of CWW. The results indicate that the CWW mainly affects the maximum and minimum contact forces instead of the contact force standard deviation. The optimal pantograph–catenary interaction performance is observed certain years after CWW is formed, depending on the traffic density of the railway line, which is at the second year in the presented case study. Then, the performance declines with an increase in service time. Also, higher operating speed causes a more significant dispersion in assessment indices representing a lower current collection quality, particularly at the maximum operating speed (70% of the catenary wave propagation speed).

Analysis and Research on Current-carrying Friction and Wear of High-speed Train Pantograph Slide and Contact Wire Based on Computer Simulation Analysis

High speed train has many advantages, such as large capacity, fast speed, low cost, small energy consumption, economic and environmental protection, safety and comfort, which has become an important part of high-speed railway in China. Therefore, pantograph catenary system will become an important part of high-speed train. However, due to the vibration of the high-speed train or the irregularity of the contact wire, the pantograph slide plate and the contact wire will produce an arc, which will lead to friction and wear. Therefore, under the complex environment, the pantograph slide plate and contact wire will form a mechanical and electrical wear coupling, which will make the current carrying friction and wear between the pantograph slide plate and contact wire more complex. Therefore, high-speed trains will suffer more problems, which will further restrict the speed-up of locomotives. Therefore, this paper first uses computer simulation technology to analyze the working relationship between pantograph slide plate and catenary of electric locomotive. Then, the friction and wear characteristics of pantograph slide plate and contact wire are studied by experiment.

The technology of a condition based maintenance of an overhead contact line with Markov approximation of contact wire wear

The technologies of OCL condition based maintenance were improved for providing reliable and economic current collecting on electrified railways and in traction power networks of urban electric transport. It is established that one of the most perspective methods of reducing operating costs is the transition to scientifically justified terms of repair and planning of works based on the actual state of OCL, the reliability of which is determined by the reliability, repair suitability and durability of the elements. The basic criteria of the current collecting process are proposed: the value of contacting pair wear, the detachment of the current collectors from the wires, the scope of oscillations of pantograph head and the contact pressure, coefficients of contact unreliability and cost savings of collecting a power from catenary, and, finally, a minimum of annual operating costs. Technology of maintenance according to Markov type parameter control is developed. Models of controlling actions on stagger and the contact wire gradient adjustment processes are developed. The standard linear programming algorithm was used to solve the problem. The application of such technology to determine the matrix of controlling actions based on the results of monitoring the stagger and the contact wire gradient is shown. The factors that determine the cost of staying in a state of stagger have been identified. The controlling actions matrices on the stagger and the contact wire gradient and the cost of staying in these gradient states are established. The technology of service with Markov approximation of wear of contact wires is offered. It has been investigated that the contact wires, primarily due to wear, are degraded during operation. Degradation processes cause gradual failures. The first group of failures: breakages, burnouts, local wear - require controlling actions to incut the insertion or putting into operation a shunt. The second group: a burnout, a decrease in the average cross-section of a wire less than the allowable one requires controlling actions to replace the wire of the entire tension length. After conducting the first type of controlling actions, the contact wire returns to the working state with the previous value of the determining parameter. When performing a second type of controlling actions, the defining parameter returns to its original state. If the quantification step is chosen such that the intensities of failures and transitions from one state to another with a sufficient degree of accuracy were constant, then the graph of states and transitions, as well as the Kolmogorov differential equations, can be used for the research. The readiness function, the density of time distribution of infallible operation, the total failure rate, and the average recovery rate from state S0i to Si are determined. Thus, all reliability indicators are defined and it is possible to use them in determining the condition of the contact wire of the tension length. Experience has shown that the most effective diagnostics of the condition of OCL devices combines the assessment of the state on mathematical, simulation models and measurements with the use of car laboratories for testing the contact network and devices for monitoring the parameters of the contact wire for the railcar. Key words –overhead contact line,contact wire, mainanance technology, controlling action models.

IMPROVEMENT OF METHODS AND TOOLS FOR OVERHEAD CONTACT LINES DIAGNOSTICS

This paper describes developments of tools and methods in a wear of contact wire aspect, based on optical diagnostic systems and computer vision. In general, such diagnostic systems contribute towards improved service quality, reduced costs and increased security in railways. The contact wire is an important part of the OCL. It interacts with the pantographs which are mounted on the roof of trains and moving at various speeds. It is subject to abrasion, friction, scraping, corrosion, erosion, vibration, arcing and welding at different degrees of severity depending on the wire and collector strip materials, modes of interaction and the environmental conditions that defines the wear of contact wires. Measuring systems which automatically detect the degree of wire wear are necessary in order to carry out efficient OCL infrastructure management and condition-based maintenance of contact wire. The problem of wear measurement characterized by some important determining factors like lighting conditions, background scenery and the disparity of reflexives properties of the contact wire. Besides, in order to conduct an efficient inspection, the measures have to be carried out in a changing speed of inspection train. Finally, an important issues for designing and developing measurement systems are the number of wire in measurement range. Systems have to be able to measure not less than four contact wires which are simultaneously in a range of vision and the contact wire geometric parameters such as height and displacement (stagger). The measuring systems have to acquire, process and store a considerable amount of data in real time. Due to the amount of information to be processed, a high-performance architecture and effective algorithms are needed for real-time monitoring. The hardware and software modernization of a high-speed laser system for a contact wire parameters measurements are examined. Such modernization is fulfilled mostly by implementing a real-time high-speed compression algorithms and using LED backlighting. The results of the measurement of the contact wire’s wear obtained by a modernized high-speed laser system during an inspection trips on a new modern laboratory-car are given in this article. Keywords:, optical diagnostic systems, LED emitter,overhead contact lines of railways

Increasing the forecasting fidelity of current collection system operating capability by means of contact pressure simulation modelling

Current collection quality is one of the limiting factors when increasing trains movement speed in the rail sector. With the movement speed growth, the impact forces on the current collector from the rolling stock and the aerodynamic influence increase, which leads to the spread in the contact pressure values, separation of the current collector head from the contact wire, contact arcing and excessive wear of the contact elements. The upcoming trend in resolving this issue is the use of the automatic control systems providing stabilization of the contact pressure value. The present paper considers the features of the contemporary automatic control systems of the current collector’s pressure; their major disadvantages have been stated. A scheme of current collector pressure automatic control has been proposed, distinguished by a proactive influence on undesirable effects. A mathematical model of contact strips wearing has been presented, obtained in accordance with the provisions of the central composition rotatable design program. The analysis of the obtained dependencies has been carried out. The procedures for determining the optimal current collector pressure on the contact wire and the pressure control principle in the pneumatic drive have been described.

A Study on Dynamic Measurement System of Contact Wire Wear in Electrified Railway

As the tension of contact wire in high-speed electrified railway increases greatly, coupled with the fast relative speed of pantograph and catenary, the wear of contact wire is more serious. Timely and accurate measurement of contact wire wear becomes increasingly important. In this paper a dynamic measurement method for contact wire wear in electrified railway is introduced. With the aid of laser supplementary light, the bottom of contact wire is captured by line-scanning camera. The measurement is performed based on the principle of binocular ranging by analyzing the local wear conditions captured with different cameras to calculate the complete wear data of contact wire. The method has been tested on line, and the test data shows that the goal of quickly measuring the contact wire wear is achieved.

New developments in obtaining inserts for trolleybus current collector from carbon compositions

The article presents new methods of obtaining products of electrical engineering from carbon compositions such as current collector inserts for trolleybus transport. In the process of manufacturing inserts, several problems are solved related to the imperfection of technology and methods of pressing carbon products: an unreliable current collector, increased contact wire wear, etc. Such methods of making inserts improve the quality of the finished product by increasing its density, and also increase the productivity of the process as a whole.

Analysis of the evolvement of contact wire wear irregularity in railway catenary based on historical data

ABSTRACTThis paper studies the evolvement of the wear irregularity of contact wire using wire thickness data measured yearly from a section of railway catenary. The power spectral density and time–frequency representation based on the wavelet transform are employed for data analysis, with an emphasis on local wear irregularities that are crucial for contact wire condition assessment. To investigate the cause of wear irregularity evolvement and the mutual influence with the pantograph–catenary dynamic interaction, simulations considering the influence of wear irregularity are carried out based on the finite element method. Analyses of the actual wear irregularities and the dynamic contact force under singular and complex wear irregularities are performed. Although the wear irregularity has limited impact on the pantograph–catenary interaction, it can induce the vibration of pantograph and contact wire that will lead to a notable increase of contact force standard deviation. The evolvement of wear irregularity is closely associated with the span length and dropper distribution of catenary structure and the running direction of pantograph. In addition, it is found feasible to detect the wear irregularity based on contact force, on condition that the sampling frequency is high enough to reflect the indicative frequencies.

Resource evaluation of friction pair “contact wire – contact strip”

Purpose. Investigate the impact of current collection system parameters and external factors on the resource of friction pair “contact wire – contact strip”. Relevance. The level of electrified railways reliability depends on the reliability and durability of the individual objects of power supply system and the locomotive facilities, in turn, the current collection quality depends on design of contact network and pantographs, contact wires materials, contact strips and external influencing factors. The resource system “contact wire – contact strip” is an important technical and economic characteristics, and its average actual resource is much less established. It means that the actual resource does not reach the optimum value from an economic point. Increasing velocity of the electric rolling stock exacerbates the problem of improving the current collection quality, becomes an actual task of increasing the resource friction pair “ contact wire – contact strip” for mainline railways. Scientific novelty. This work determined the influence structural parameters of the friction pair, the current collection system parameters and external factors on the wear rate of the friction pair “contact wire – contact strip”. Proposed to create a predictive mathematical model that uses the dependence of the influencing parameters obtained in this work to assess the wear and resource of contact wire and contact strips. Practical importance. Developed the device for wear researching of friction pairs in laboratory conditions allows assessing the wear rate of the system “contact wire – contact strip” and their residual resource at different combinations of the friction pair and external factors. The obtained results allow us to construct a predictive mathematical model to evaluate wear rate of the elements of the friction pair “contact wire – contact strip” and identify their residual resource.

Procedure to assess the role of railway pantograph components in generating the aerodynamic uplift

Aerodynamic forces play a big role in determining the value of the mean force acting between the collectors of a railway pantograph and the contact wire, especially for speed higher than 200km/h. The contact force has to be properly calibrated in order to have a good quality collection of power and low wear of contact strips and contact wire. This paper analyses the pantograph features that mainly affect its aerodynamic behaviour, and their influence on the mean value of the contact force. Wind tunnel experimental tests on a full-scale pantograph and Computational Fluid Dynamic (CFD) simulations in a wind tunnel scenario are carried out for different pantograph configurations, and the contribution of each different part of the pantograph to the mean contact force is investigated. To this end, the feasibility of using the RANS model and steady state simulations is evaluated.