Keywords: pantograph, catenary, interaction, modelling, simulation, validation, modal, superposition.

The valid modelling of pantograph-catenary dynamic interaction is helpful at the pantograph prototyping stage. Besides the short review of the state of art, this paper presents a method for simulating pantograph-catenary interaction which is not extensively described in the literature. The approach presented in this paper assumes that the pantograph-catenary interaction is performed in multibody dynamics software, MSC.Adams 2014. To describe the flexibility of the catenary, the modal superposition of the frequency modes of the catenary span was adopted. The simulation method was examined against the European Standard EN50318:2002, which is dedicated for validation of simulation of the dynamic interaction between pantograph and overhead contact line. Results obtained for reference model are not fully compatible with the ranges described by the EN 50318 document. In particular, the values of uplift at supports are slightly too low. Moreover, the standard deviation of the contact force recorded using the method is below the ranges described by the EN50318 standard. It must be noted, that general character of the contact force variation is similar to that achieved using other simple methods (a comparison with a simplified method is presented in the paper).

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