Simulation of the Rupture of the Contact Wire of a High speed Catenary

The rupture of the contact wire (CW) of a railway overhead contact line (OCL or catenary) of a high-speed line is expected to be a rare event, however, its occurrence can have catastrophic consequences due to the failure of the pantograph against the catenary, possibly enlarging the extension of the damage portion on the catenary. The prevention of such events through proper catenary monitoring is gaining high interest, with several proposal of direct catenary monitoring of the catenary. The purpose of this work is to find the signature of variables measurable at the end of an OCL section, so that it is possible to reveal the presence of a failure in the contact wire, and to stop the traffic before a train runs under the broken catenary. The paper investigates, by means of numerical simulation, the dynamical behavior of the catenary, when a failure in the contact wire of the OCL occurs. The dynamical response of the OCL is simulated through nonlinear dynamical analysis, to define existing pattern of the variables that can be measured at line’s extremities, where the tensioning devices of the conductors are located. Several scenarios of failure locations are investigated, so that the measured force signature, to get a more general view of the pattern of the alert signals to be recognized.