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Being a typical structural element in infrastructure of transportation systems, the poles are one of the key parts of almost any railway system, carrying the required electricity wires and further side-supplies. On the other hand, numerical simulations have become an inseparable part of any modern engineering task, such that they lead to a deeper insight into the problem and its various perspectives. Pole structures, not being an exception, have attracted significant attention in this regard, especially due to the increase in utilization of railway systems. Therefore, a deep study on diverse modeling aspects of such structures is a necessity to obtain trustable simulation results.
The current study is a survey aimed at investigating the effects of two factors, namely the catenary cables and soil-structure interaction (SSI), on the dynamic behavior of the pole structures which are used in a high-speed train line connecting the cities of Leipzig and Erfurt in the eastern region of Germany. The study is conducted using 3D Finite Element models (FEM). The final goal is to gain an understanding of how the two mentioned factors, from a modeling point of view, affect the eigenfrequencies of the structure.
Initially, the modeling aspects and assumptions used in the study are clarified, and the methods which were used to model the catenary cables and the SSI are briefly explained. Henceforth, the simulation results are presented and discussed. Finally, a parameter study is performed in order to identify the most decisive parameters of the model when calculating the eigenfrequencies, while simultaneously observing the behavior of the model when only one parameter changes. Last but not least, the eigenfrequencies calculated using the acceleration data which are extracted from the sensors installed on an in-service pole are presented, so that a comparison between the modeling results and those of the real-world model would further assist in making a judgment about the prognosis capability and accuracy of the simulations. Such a comparison especially proves to be useful in order to decide about the boundary conditions and the modeling assumptions concerning the SSI and the cables. It is also worth noting that in the course of the parameter studies, the so called metamodeling techniques are used after being shortly introduced, to accelerate the analyses.

Soil-Structure Interaction, Pole, Catenary Cables, Dynamic Behavior, Sensitivity Analysis, Metamodeling