It is conceivable that the front-side pantograph shield provided on smooth roof of Shinkansen vehicles adversely affects the flow field around the rear-side pantograph significantly. However, few investigations as to the adverse effect have ever taken place. The authors performed a wind tunnel test with a train set model in 1/30 scale to measure the flow field around pantograph. The result has indicated that the turbulence of the flow generated by the front pantograph shield has not reduced sufficiently at a length less than 80 meters converted in a real scale. In addition, it is also presumable that the flow adversely affects the contact force fluctuation of the pantograph because the turbulence spectrum is intensive at a resonant frequency of the pantograph.

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