Abstract
Dynamic characteristics of catenary that supplies electrical power to high-speed trains are investigated. A simple catenary is composed of the contact and messenger wires connected by droppers possessing bi-directional stiffness properties. For slender, repeating structures such as catenary, both the wave propagation and vibration properties need to be understood. The influence of parameters that determine catenary dynamics are investiaged through numerical simulations involving finite element models. The effects of the tension and flexural rigidity of the contact wire is first investigated. The effects of dropper characteristics are then investigated. For linear droppers wave propagation as well as modal properties are determined. For large catenary motion, droppers can be modeled as bi-directional elements possessing low stiffness in compression and high stiffness in tension. For this case, impulse response is computed and compared with the cases of linear droppers. It is found that the catenary dynamics are primarily determined by contact wire tension and dropper properties, with large responses observed in 5∼40 Hz frequency range. In particular, the dropper stiffness and spacing are found to have dominant influence on the response frequency and the wave transmission characteristics.