Wind Tunnel Test of Tension Effects on Vibration Responses of Catenary System

The tensions of contact wire and messenger wire are important to the wind-induced vibration responses of a catenary system. Based on the design of an actual railway project, a five-post and four-span aero-elastic catenary system model for a wind tunnel test was designed according to the similarity theory. A wind tunnel test on the aero-elastic catenary system model with four different types of contact wire and messenger wire tension combinations was carried out. The characteristics of the wind-induced vibration responses were studied by the measured acceleration and displacement responses in the test. The results demonstrated that the natural frequency of the contact wire increased, and its wind deflection decreased with the increase in the tensions on the contact wire. The cantilever and the mast were hardly influenced by the tensions on the wires. The catenary system is a wind-sensitive structure. It is an effective method for decreasing the wind deflection on the contact wire by increasing the tensions on the contact wire and the messenger wire.