A web-based georeferenced modelling tool for the Turin tramway network electrification system

This thesis, developed as part of a collaboration between Infra.To and Politecnico di Torino, describes the development of a web application for the modelling and simulation of the Turin tramway network electrification system. The destination of the work is two-fold: on the one hand it should enable network operators to perform quantitative analyses of the system, in order to support both maintenance and planning phases by studying hypothetical scenarios. On the other hand, it should contribute to a research project of the Department of Energy "Galileo Ferraris" of Politecnico di Torino that aims to provide a comprehensive monitoring of the energy flows in the city. The tool is structured around a web GIS platform, based on the MapStore framework, which lets display and edit, on a map, the georeferenced data of the network infrastructure, imported from the AutoCAD environment. The application includes a simulator, developed in Python, that builds the steady-state circuital model of the DC traction system and solves it by means of nodal analysis. The simulator can either analyse a selected configuration of trams and faults, or compute the minimum short-circuit current for a given zone of the overhead contact system. The criteria of flexibility and openness are the ones that have mainly driven the design choices: all the software components are open-source, interact through RESTful APIs and implement the standard protocols defined by OGC for the sharing of geospatial data through the web. This should facilitate possible future expansions of the work: for instance, with the availability of real-time location and current absorption of the trams, a quasi-real-time monitoring of the tramway network could be achieved. Moreover, the proposed GIS platform could serve as a hub to integrate additional data sources and applications.