Objective Addressing the issue of abnormal fatigue damage and wear of high-speed railway catenary steady arms during service, the influence of train operating speed and contact wire stagger value on the load characteristics and vibration response of the steady arm is investigated.

Method Based on the pantograph-catenary coupling dynamics theory and the kinematic relationship of the steady arm, a pantograph-catenary dynamics coupling model considering the motion state of the steady arm is established. The validity of the proposed model is verified according to relevant pantograph-catenary dynamics standards. On this basis, operating conditions with different train operating speeds and different contact wire stagger values are set. Response indicators such as the three-directional loads of the steady arm, the vertical uplift of the registration point, and the vertical vibration acceleration are extracted. The variation laws of the steady arm dynamics response are analyzed in terms of maximum amplitude, standard deviation, and fluctuation characteristics.

Result & Conclusion  The model calculation results meet the requirements of relevant pantograph-catenary system dynamics and can reflect the pantograph-catenary dynamics response characteristics under the action of the steady arm. As the train operating speed increases, the maximum amplitudes and standard deviations of the three-directional loads of the steady arm, the vertical uplift of the registration point, and the vertical acceleration all increase. This indicates that an increase in train operating speed enhances the load fluctuation and vibration intensity of the steady arm, exacerbating fatigue damage and wear. As the contact wire stagger value increases, the fluctuations of the steady arm lateral force and the registration point uplift decrease slightly, but the static initial value of the normal interaction force of the contact pair, jointly formed by the lateral and vertical forces, increases significantly. Therefore, appropriately reducing the contact wire stagger value can lower the normal action level of the steady arm contact pair, thereby retarding the development of wear.