Wind effects on the dynamic interaction between pantograph and overhead contact lines

• Autores: Cristina Sánchez Rebollo
• Directores de la Tesis: Alberto Carnicero López (dir. tes.)
• Lectura: En la Universidad Pontificia Comillas ( España ) en 2015
• Idioma: español
• Tribunal Calificador de la Tesis: Francisco Javier García de Jalón de la Fuente (presid.) , José Ignacio Linares Hurtado (secret.) , Alan Facchinetti (voc.) , Ramón Álvarez Cabal (voc.) , Oscar López García (voc.)
• Enlaces
  • Tesis en acceso abierto en: TESEO
• Resumen

  • The function of the catenary-pantograph system is providing continuously and reliably the energy supply for the train. The temporal response of the contact force between the strips of the pantograph and the contact wire is critical to assess the quality of the contact and thus the quality of the transmitted energy. Due to the fact that the catenary-pantograph system involves a high economic investment, this system should be designed to ensure a long service life with minimal maintenance cost and satisfactory quality of the contact.

    Recent developments in railway transport allow competing with aviation (it covers more than 700km in good times and between city centers) but also lead into the appearance of new problems that were irrelevant at lower train speeds but cause operability problems in high speed performances. In particular, wind load effects on overhead catenary line have acquired more importance in recent years such that the main European railways companies establish limits on the velocity of the train fed through this system depending on wind speed. Moreover, wind effect is one of the most important aspects of design to ensure the interoperability such that not every width of the pantograph fits contact requirements in the different countries.

    In these respects simulation techniques can yield technological and economical benefits, specially taking into account the precision that numerical methods can achieve nowadays. Thus, this thesis aims at developing a simulation model which considers wind load and is capable of gathering the whole set of non-linearities involved in the problem and this target entails two main milestones:

    1. The development of a 3D model of the dynamics involved in the catenary-pantograph interaction: a finite element model based on corotational formulation has been developed for this particular application which involves the catenary line and a penalty contact element. Dynamic simulations of the model at a train speed of 250 km/h and 300 km/h fulfill the requirements of the European Standard EN50318.

    2. The characterization of wind loads: Due to the stochastic nature of wind speed, different simulation models of wind have been analyzed in order to obtain wind speed signals that reproduce realistic wind velocity. From this variable, wind load is computed such that its definition is coherent with co-rotational formulation.

    The achievement of these two points allows drawing conclusions about the effect of wind on catenary-pantograph interaction under different conditions of angle of attack and wind and train speeds. This effect has been evaluated on the contact force, uplift at the masts and lateral displacement and the obtained results permit practical criteria to be established.