Keywords: pantograph-catenary interaction, overlap section, multiple pantographs, contact force, EN 50318, PANTOsim.

The overlap section of high-speed railway catenary is one of the most critical area for current collection quality, especially when more than one pantograph is collecting current from same catenary. In this paper, the dynamic interaction between four pantographs and a two-section catenary with one overlap is studied by means of numerical simulation through PANTOsim. Three different overlap profiles are used and compared at five operating speeds from 250 to 350 km/h. The standard deviation of contact force is used as the main criterion of the contact quality assessment. The results indicates that the third profile gives the best dynamic behaviour, in particular at 275 km/h, where the standard deviation of contact force is much smaller than for the other two profiles. Furthermore, twelve different distance scenarios between pantographs were investigated, by considering the wavelength of the pantograph induced vibrations in the catenary system. The combination of distances d1=192 m, d2=120 m, d3=192 m (Scenario 9) shows good compliance with EN 50367 for all four pantographs. The presented work demonstrates that the geometric design of the overlap, together with proper choice of distance between pantographs, can reduce strongly the contact force fluctuation and therefore improve the wear of contact wire.

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