Proceedings of the Fifth International Conference on

Railway Technology:
Research, Development and Maintenance
Edited by J. Pombo
Civil-Comp Conferences, Volume 1, Paper 4.13
Civil-Comp Press, Edinburgh, United Kingdom, 2022, doi: 10.4203/ccc.1.4.13
Civil-Comp Ltd, Edinburgh, UK, 2022

Wear model for pantograph-catenary interaction

S. Derosa1, P. Nåvik1, G. Bucca2, A. Collina2, A.

Abstract
Electric railways are nowadays the state-of-the-art for what concern the design of
high-speed lines. The research on this particular segment of railways is focused on the
pantograph-catenary interaction because this is what limits the maximum allowed
speed. Within this field of research, the topic of the wear of the components involved
in the sliding contact attracted the attention of rail operators, due to the possibility of
reducing costs and failures once this phenomenon is better understood. Multiple
studies investigated the effects on the wear of materials, current intensity, train speed,
contact force, arcs and heat generated at the contact surface. All these studies pointed
out interesting characteristics of this phenomenon, namely its high dependency on
operational parameters and the benefits of having results from laboratory tests, given
the inherent difficulty on retrieve enough reliable data from field measurements.
In this work, results from dedicated laboratory tests at Politecnico di Milano are used
to create a model for the contact wire wear and a model for the contact strip wear. The
two models are representative of the conditions currently in use within the Norwegian
Railway Network. Furthermore, the laboratory tests allowed to explore parameter
values that might be used for future applications. Further test with more extreme
values allowed to extend the validity of the study beyond the needed range, so to have
a robust prediction on the created models. The models were generated by fitting an
equation that includes the main contributions to the wear (mechanical, electrical, arcs)
to the test results. Considerations regarding the area of influence of each contribution
are also possible. This allows to understand, given the operating conditions, which
kind of wear to expect. Furthermore, the models can be used to estimate the wear both

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on new lines, integrating it with the simulation tool used for the study of the catenary
dynamics, and on existing lines, applying the contact force and electric current
intensity data recorded from the field measurements.
Keywords: Pantograph-catenary interaction, Contact wire wear model, Contact strip
wear model, Wear prediction.

1 Introduction
Electric railways are nowadays the state-of-the-art for what concern the design of
high-speed lines. The research on this particular segment of railways is focused on the
pantograph-catenary interaction for good reasons: this is what limits the maximum
speed allowed on a determined line [1]. While large part of the studies aim at the
creation and validation of numerical or hybrid models for the simulation of the
catenary dynamics when there is an interaction with a passing train [2], another topic
attracted the interest of the researchers in relatively recent years: the modelling of the
collector / contact wire wear. The main reason is to be searched in the contribution of
optimizing the Life Cycle Costs of the involved components and, in the end, of the
whole system [3]. Multiple studies have been carried out in order to investigate the
effects on the wear of used materials [4], current intensity, train speed [5], contact
force [6], arcs (both in DC [7] and AC [8]) and heat generated at the contact surface
[9].
All of these studies pointed out interesting characteristics of this phenomenon. Among
the others, two are worth of notice for the current work. The first one is that the wear
is highly dependent on operational parameters [10], giving plenty of reasons for an
investigation towards extreme values of these parameters, in particular when it comes
to studies for new lines. The second point worth of notice is that this field, above all
the others, greatly benefits from properly designed laboratory testing, since having
data from field measurements is time costly and anyway with a low reliability. For
this reason, many test rigs have been built during the years, each of them with a
purpose in mind.
In this work, the test rig at Politecnico di Milano has been used [11] with the aim of
building a wear model for the contact wire and one for the contact strip valid for the
condition in use within the Norwegian Railway Network. The tests have been
designed in order to investigate the wear both with the parameter values currently
adopted on the main electrified lines, and the ones that are taken into account for future
applications. Further test with more extreme values allowed to extend the validity of
the study beyond the needed range, so to have a robust prediction on the created
model.

2 Methods
In order to create a model representative of the chosen conditions, a sequence of tests
has been performed at the wear test rig at Politecnico di Milano. For each of the test
a set of values for the current, the train speed and the uplift force was chosen, so to
represent current and possible future conditions of operations. The contact wire is a
CuAg 100 mm2, the same used in the Norwegian Railway System 20 catenary

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systems. The contact strip is a copper impregnated carbon strip, as in use on the latest
Class 74/75 Stadler FLIRT EMUs.
For each test, measurements on the wire thickness along its length and on the contact
strip weight has been performed before and after the tests, so to evaluate the absolute
wear and, knowing the run distance, the wear ratio. This last parameter is expressed
in volume of material removed per kilometre when evaluating the contact strip
behaviour, and in volume of material removed per million collector passages when it
comes to the contact wire.
All the results obtained from these tests were then used to fit a parametric model that
takes into consideration the three main effects that influence the wear: mechanical,
electrical, arcs. This model is as per [12], but this time applied to an AC case, with
specific results for Norwegian conditions [13].
In order to fit the model the least square method has been applied. Given the
complexity of the model and the high number of parameters involved, a sensitivity
analysis for each of the chosen parameter has been run. This allowed having a better
understanding of how much each parameter, hence, each of the mentioned effects that
influence the wear, contributes to the final result.
Further analysis on the relation between the contact force and the contact resistance
has been performed. These were needed in order to evaluate the relation between the
electrical component of the fitting formula and the applied contact force [14].

3 Results
The procedure for the fitting of the equation on the experimental results produced two
wear models, respectively for the contact wire and the contact strip.
Figure 1a shows the model for the contact wire wear compared to the corresponding
measured data. Force values are between 40 N and 80 N, and current intensity values
are between 250 A and 500 A. These values are intended per collector, so, in case of
pantograph mounting multiple collectors, they have to be adjusted accordingly. For
this model it is possible to notice that the mechanical component is predominant
around high contact force and low current values, while the electrical component is
predominant around high current and low contact force values. In this range of values,
the mechanical contribution lowers mainly due to the effect of current lubrication,
where the heat generated by the current melts the carbon on the contact strip and create
a layer of lubricant between the two sliding components. This means that it possible
to find an optimal point where the wear is minimized with the right choice of current
intensity and uplift force.
Figure 1b shows the model for the contact strip wear compared to the corresponding
measured data. The range of the operating parameters is the same as in Figure 1a.
Within this range there is no minimum point for the wear model that can give a clear
optimal set of operating parameters to minimize wear in the contact strip. The reason
is linked with the different effects that the current lubrication has on the wire and on
the strip. The lubrication that allows to protect the wire is made with melt carbon from
the contact strip, thus increasing the wear in the contact strip itself, especially for high
values of current intensity. The trend indicates that a low current and high contact

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force is the direction to take to reduce wear in the contact strip. Furthermore, a
dependency of the contact strip wear from the lateral speed of the contact point due to
thermal effects was found [15]. Figure 2 shows how the electrical component of the
wear increases when the speed at which the contact point moves across the contact
strip decreases.

Figure 1: NWR surface and comparison with the measured data for the contact wire
(a) and contact strip (b).

Figure 2: contact strip wear dependency on the lateral speed of the contact point
between pantograph and contact wire.

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4 Conclusions and Contributions
The topic of the wear in the pantograph-catenary interaction is attracting the attention
of the research because of its contribution to the lowering of Life Cycle Costs in the
electric railway field. From this work a contribution to this in the electric railways that
operate with conditions similar to the ones applied in Norway can be provided.
A model for the contact wire wear and a model for the contact strip wear are presented.
They are a useful tool for the estimation of the wear at given operating conditions. In
used together, the models can be used to find an optimal operating point that satisfies
both the infrastructure and the train owners.
Furthermore, thanks to the process followed to build the model, it is also possible to
split the estimated wear in the three main components that are thought to be the ones
that most contribute to the wear: mechanical, electrical, arcs. In this way, a better
understanding of which characteristics of the components that realize the contact
should receive more focus in case of further development is possible.
In conclusion, this work allows a better understanding of the wear phenomenon from
the point of view of the applied parameters of contact force and electric current
intensity.

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