Overhead Line Simulation Research for Wire Tensile Forces Optimization

The interaction of wheel & rail, pantograph & overhead lines (OHL) and the aerodynamics are three key-technologies in high-speed railway. This paper is imposed to research the interaction between pantographs and overhead lines in 300~350km/h railways with the CATMOS ® simulation program.

The overhead line-pantograph system is supposed to supply energy to the traction vehicle via continuous electrical and mechanical contact, whilst keeping the wear on the contact wire and the collector strips as low as possible. The materials, cross-sectional areas of the contact line & the catenary wire and the tensile force can have significant effect on the behavior of an overhead line for high speed railway. In the high speed railway, the interaction between the flexible overhead wire and the rigid pantograph is much more complicated and difficult to maintain stable. With the simulation program, the interaction is convenient for research and optimization without a large amount of time and cost. Through the optimization, we get high tensile forces on the contact line and catenary for low and uniform elasticity of overhead lines in the simulation.