Dynamic optimization of railway catenary system by turning unwanted lumped-mass into tuned-mass

Abstract

The railway catenary is suspended to its supports with droppers, clamps and oth-er fittings. These lumped-masses are made light and small to minimize disturbances. The mass-es cannot be completely removed but can be adjusted during maintenance. In other technical systems, artificial mass is used to improve the dynamic behaviour. Therefore, in this study the relationship between the lumped-mass distribution and its dynamic behaviour is investigated. Based on a 3D pantograph-catenary finite element (FE) model, a parametric study on the lumped-mass distribution on the Swedish soft catenary system is performed by applying addi-tional lumped-mass to different positions. It is shown that the mass distribution affects the dy-namic performance and in some cases, can improve the dynamic performance. The influence becomes stronger in multi-pantograph operation. Installing these masses on the messenger wire can avoid hard-point effects. In this way, the artificial mass can be used to improve the dynamic performance or correct some structural defects.