Estimation of Aerodynamic Forces on a Railway Contact Wire and Their Effect on Galloping Instability - Wind Tunnel Testing of an AC-120 Contact Wire

Abstract

The objective of this master thesis was to determine the static aerodynamic forces on a contact wire, presented as static coefficients and the Strouhal number. The static coefficients were used in a galloping analysis on a Finite Element model of a real life catenary system in Norway. The drag, lift and moment coefficients are determined by wind tunnel experiments for different angles of attack of the flow and for different wind velocities. The Strouhal number for the contact wire is also determined from wind tunnel results for an angle of attack of zero. The galloping analysis is performed on an Abaqus-model of a real catenary system using the determined aerodynamic coefficients.