Many definitions are required so that the simulations can run realistically:
- Topography:
Position of train stations, gradients, curves, tunnels, bridges, speed limits, etc.
- Topology:
Interconnection of the traction power network electrical components
- Vehicle data:
Weights, rotating masses, train resistances, electrical parameters, degrees of efficiency
- Timetables (Fig.1)
- Variants
The behavior without and with breakdowns is calculated from one each up to 30 substations.
The calculation is made in increments of time. The electrical network, which is dependent on the location of the vehicles, is calculated at each point in time. All voltages and currents are calculated for this network depending on the power required for the vehicles. The calculation results are data files which are similar to measurement files. A few hundred “measured quantities” occur in the response time: currents, voltages, potentials, outputs, locations, etc. Of these quantities, the mean values, effective values, maxima and minima are required. Other factors include derived quantities such as outputs, power, unbalanced loads in the three-phase supply network, leakages and phase angles.
The quantities were not to be output based on time only, but also to a certain extent based on location, e.g. the highest and lowest potential along the track, the highest and lowest voltage along the track, the average and effective currents in the overhead cable and rails. The input parameters were also to be output: inclines over path, height over path, current limits of the vehicles over voltage depending on the operating state, train resistances over speed and timetables as the location of the trains over time. After completing the calculations, a comparison was to be made between variants. Request: Primarily automated preparation of HTML documentation for the calculated simulation results submitted to the customer. The HTML documentation consists of tables and graphs. Standard software was to be used to reduce the development costs for the analysis and presentation of the simulation results.
Initial version
The company selected the FlexPro analysis software by Weisang primarily for the following reasons:
- The hierarchically organized object database, with a size limited only by the size of the hard disk, provides the ideal organizational structure for the simulation results.
- FlexPro features a powerful script language (FPScript) that can be used to calculate real and complex time signals.
- The parameters for the diagrams and tables can be freely adjusted, also making it possible to create specific charts and other graphical representations, such as a timetable chart.
The first approach for FlexPro 5 was to produce a special import filter for the result text files generated by the simulation software, which placed the hierarchical, computed results in a subtree of a FlexPro object database after the import was manually activated. The documentation was produced semi-automatically without HTML output. A high level of automation was already achieved in the process thanks to extensive use of the FPScript formula language.
