Effect of Ambient Temperature on Catenary System

Abstract

This paper investigates the effect of the ambient temperature change on the overhead catenary system (OCS). Thermal expansion/contraction of the components of the overhead catenary system (OCS) are considered. Simulation results show that the temperature stress has a much greater influence on the longitudinal positioning of the contact wire than on the horizontal and vertical positioning. When ambient temperature reduces to -60°C or rises to 60°C from design temperature of 20°C, the maximum longitudinal displacement of the positioner can reach as high as 304 mm, while the maximum horizontal and vertical displacement of the positioner is within 4 mm. The decrease of temperature leads to the increase of cable tension, and the increase of temperature leads to the decrease of cable tension. When the temperature decreases from 20°C to -60°C or rises to 60°C, the tension change rate of contact wire is less than 1%, while that of messenger wire is not more than 0.01%.