Optimization of railway cantilever based on physical test and non-linear computation model with finite element method

Modern trends in the development of railway transport in the Republic of Bulgaria are related to increasing the speed and possibility to transport increasing number of passengers and cargo. This is related to the construction of new or modernization of the existing railway infrastructure. The embedding of suitable elements in the railway contact network has a significant impact on the cost of investments. This requires the design of new products which can satisfy the technical requirements and at the same time are economically profitable, i.e. development of new products with low manufacturing costs, but with the necessary strength and reliability. In this publication, several types of cantilever structures for railway contact network are investigated using the finite element method. A comparative analysis of the theoretical results and the physical testing of the prototypes was made, that allows the verification of the computational model in the zone of plastic deformations. The research was done in the laboratory of the Department of Railway engineering of the Faculty of Transport at the Technical University of Sofia. The applied loads and assessment are in accordance with the requirements of the technical specification TS-RI 007-2006 of the National Railway Infrastructure Company [1].