Procedure to assess the role of railway pantograph components in generating the aerodynamic uplift

•Investigation of the influence of aerodynamic forces on a railway pantograph.•Wind tunnel tests and CFD simulations in a wind tunnel scenario.•Procedure based on the virtual work principle to evaluate the aerodynamic uplift.

Aerodynamic forces play a big role in determining the value of the mean force acting between the collectors of a railway pantograph and the contact wire, especially for speed higher than 200 km/h. The contact force has to be properly calibrated in order to have a good quality collection of power and low wear of contact strips and contact wire. This paper analyses the pantograph features that mainly affect its aerodynamic behaviour, and their influence on the mean value of the contact force. Wind tunnel experimental tests on a full-scale pantograph and Computational Fluid Dynamic (CFD) simulations in a wind tunnel scenario are carried out for different pantograph configurations, and the contribution of each different part of the pantograph to the mean contact force is investigated. To this end, the feasibility of using the RANS model and steady state simulations is evaluated.