This paper considers the interaction between a train mounted pantograph and a railway overhead line, presenting results that could be used to reduce the cost of installing overhead electrification, for example, by reducing the need for expensive bridge reconstruction. Ideally, overhead wires would run at a constant height parallel to the track, however, gradients are often unavoidable due to clearance limitations requiring lower wire heights at bridges and tunnels, and higher heights above level crossings. In this study, the influence of a range of contact wire gradients on the contact force between the overhead line and pantograph has been studied using a validated finite element model. Introducing a windowing technique to identify discrete dynamic behaviours found that overhead wire gradients can be increased with minimal effect on the contact force, showing current wire gradient limits are conservative. This may open up opportunities for electrification, less disruptive than following current standards.

本文考虑了安装在火车上的受电弓和铁路架空线之间的相互作用，展示了可用于降低架空电气化安装成本的结果，例如，通过减少昂贵的桥梁重建需求。理想情况下，架空电线应以平行于轨道的恒定高度铺设，但是，由于间隙限制，要求桥梁和隧道处的电线高度较低，而平交道口上方的高度较高，因此坡度通常是不可避免的。在这项研究中，使用经过验证的有限元模型研究了一系列接触线梯度对架空线和受电弓之间接触力的影响。引入加窗技术来识别离散动态行为后发现，架空线梯度可以在对接触力影响最小的情况下增加，表明当前线梯度限制是保守的。这可能为电气化创造机会，与遵循当前标准相比破坏性更小。