Catenary System Impedance Calculations

Single track with no parallel feeders

P1N1 Center-to-center dist. from conductor P1 to conductor N1. h Clearance to top of rail.
D11 Dist. between centers of messenger and contact wires. rh Rail head height
GMR1 Geometric mean radius of contact wire. g Rail guage
rw Rail width
GMR2 Geometric mean radius of messenger wire.
D22 Ctr-to-ctr spacing between rail pairs
GMRrail Geometric mean radius of running rail.
RESrail Resistance of one rail
RES1 Resistance of conductor 1.

D11 := 27.0 In. (42" system height, 15 inch sag)

rh := 6.625 In. (115 lb. RE Rail)
rw := 2.719 In.
h := 18 ⋅ 12 In.
g := 56.5 In.
D22 := g + rw
frequency := 60 System frequency in Hz
RES1 := .1949 Ohms/mi (80 bronze @ 25 deg. C) GMR1 := .2231 In. (350 kcmil alloy 80 contact wire, new)
RES2 := .290 Ohms/mi (Copperweld @ 25 deg. C) GMR2 := .01711 In. (4/0 E CU/Copperweld messenger)
RESrail := .0499 Ohms/mi (115 lb. RE @ 20 deg. C) GMRrail := .0128 In. (115 lb RE)

2 2
⎛ D22 ⎞ ⎛ D22 ⎞
P1N1 :=
2
( h + .55 ⋅ rh ) + ⎜ ⎟ P2N1 := (h + .55 ⋅ rh + D11) 2
+⎜ ⎟
⎝ 2 ⎠ ⎝ 2 ⎠
1 1 1

2 (
GMDpn := P1N1 ⋅ P2N1
2 )4 GMRpp := ⎛⎝ GMR1 ⋅ GMR2 ⋅ D11 ⎞⎠
2
4
GMRnn := ⎛⎝ GMRrail ⋅ D22 ⎞⎠
2 2
4

⎛ GMDpn ⎞ ⎛ GMDpn ⎞
Lp := .3218 ⋅ ln ⎜ ⎟ phase inductance in mH/mi Ln := .3218 ⋅ ln ⎜ ⎟ neutral_inductance
⎝ GMRpp ⎠ ⎝ GMRnn ⎠
RES1 ⋅ RES2 RESrail
Rp := ⋅ 1000 phase resistance in mOhms/mi Rn := ⋅ 1000 neutral_resistance
RES1 + RES2 2

Lloop := Lp + Ln loop inductance in mOhms/mi Rloop := Rp + Rn loop resistance

Lp = 1.6741 mH/mile Rp = 116.6 mOhms/mi Lloop

Time_constant := ⋅ 1000
Ln = 1.801 mH/mile Rn = 24.95 mOhms/mi Rloop

Lloop = 3.475 mH/mile Rloop = 141.5 mOhms/mi Time_constant = 24.56 mSec.

2
phase_reactance := ⋅ π ⋅ frequency ⋅ Lp phase_reactance = 0.6311 ohms/mile
1000
2
loop_reactance := ⋅ π ⋅ frequency ⋅ Lloop loop_reactance = 1.3101 ohms/mile
1000
Rp
phase_impedance := + i ⋅ phase_reactance phase_impedance = 0.1166 + 0.6311j ohms/mile
1000
Rloop
loop_impedance := + i ⋅ loop_reactance loop_impedance = 0.1415 + 1.3101j ohms/mile
1000