An Extended Model of Light Railway System Used in Analysis of Normal Operation and Fault Conditions

The paper provides a description of the analysis of a Light Railway System for two configurations: - Rails above the ground and catenary supply - Track in a tunnel and power rail supply. Finite Element Method (FEM) analysis is compared to classical analytical approaches by Carson, Pollaczek, Bickford and Tylavsky. Reviews of methods to determine self and mutual impedance for electrified railroads are provided. The solution of finite element method (FEM) applied for the determination of impedance for the two traction rail and catenary configuration, modeled and examined, consists of computational analysis based upon minimizing the energy of electromagnetic field. The analytic impedance models are built on Carson-Pollaczek–Bickford equations, adjusted by Tylavsky, for two situations: when the ground is perfectly insulated and when considering the earth return current. The railway track – catenary is integrated in a system containing the model for traction substation(s) with DC power output and moving vehicle with induction motors, controlled using voltage inverters with pulse width modulation. The light transit train, supplied with a rectified DC power, is subjected to a significant harmonic content, which may affect the signal and control circuits. It is then shown that the power and signaling characteristics of the modelled system can predict the magnitude of the perturbation current for different frequencies, in normal operating conditions and in presence of faults as well. In many of the light transportation systems, from all types of faults, the DC short-circuit at the output of the power rectifiers used for energizing the power rail and/or catenary presents a special interest. This is because of two main reasons: the positions of the vehicle-loads are in continuous changing and, even if they operate from DC sources, the parent network is still of AC type. A key issue was the determination of the distributed parameters (resistances, inductances) of the running track and catenary, from experimental data and preliminary analytical and numerical calculations, followed by the analysis of their dependencies with the current magnitude and frequency response. A specific short-circuit study case is simulated when using a model of the traction system for the purpose of the DC fault current prediction. The paper concludes with a discussion of future developments and further work.