OSCAR Statement of Methods

Abstract

OSCAR (Outil de Simulation du CAptage pour la Reconnaissance des défauts) is the pantograph–catenary dynamic software developed by Société Nationale des Chemins de fer Français (SNCF) since 2004. A three-dimensional finite element (FE) mesh allows the modelling of any catenary type: alternating current (AC) or direct current (DC) designs, and conventional or high-speed lines. It is a representative of the real overhead line geometry, with contact wire (CW) irregularities, staggered alignment of the CW, dropper spacing, wire tension, etc. Nonlinearities, such as slackening of droppers and unilateral contact between the pantograph and the CW, are taken into account. Several pantograph models can be used, with a complexity level growing from the three-lumped-mass model to the multibody model. In the second case, a cosimulation between the FE method catenary and the multibody pantograph models has been developed. Industrial features for pre- and post-treatments were developed to increase robustness of results and optimise computation time. Recent developments include volume meshing of the CW for stress computation or statistical analysis and lead to new fields of studies such as fatigue failure or design optimisation. OSCAR was fully validated against in-line measurements for its different AC and DC catenary models as well as its different pantograph models (with independent strips for instance) and has continuously been certified against EN50318 since 2008.