Study of dynamic buckling in droppers of high-speed railway line catenary during pantograph passage

The dynamical actions to which the cate-nary dropper is subjected during the pantograph passage can become very relevant for high speeds of railway vehicle. In some very rare and isolated cases, premature failure of the dropper positioned near the suspension and/or near the auto tensioning devices in catenaries for High Speed (HS) operation has been observed. In order to understand the phenomenon, an analysis developed in several activities was carried out, including numerical analyses and in line and in laboratory experimental activities. A final phase of the in-vestigation was dedicated to the development of a prototype of a dropper specifically designed on the basis of the results obtained from this study with the aim of improving the dropper fatigue behaviour. The new dropper could be used in critical points of the overhead line, such as near the suspension and/or near the auto tensioning devices. © 2022, CIFI Collegio Ingegneri Ferroviari Italiani. All rights reserved.