Wave propagation in a catenary system for a high-speed railway

Abstract

In this study, the wave propagation phenomena in a catenary system for a high-speed railway are analyzed by using the finite element method. Considering tensions in the contact wire and the messenger wire, we drive the equations of motion for the catenaries system. After establishing the weak form, the weak forms are spatially discretized with beam elements. Based on the discretized model, a finite element computer program is developed for the static and dynamic analyses. The static deflections of the various types of catenaries systems including straight, parallel and curved sections are investigated. The slackness of the dropper which has a geometry nonlinear effect is also considered in the static and dynamic analyses. For verification of the established finite element models, the wave propagation responses corresponding to the moving load to the contact line are investigated.