• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.13 no.2
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• pp.211-220
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• 2017

Observations from past strong earthquakes revealed that near-fault ground motions could lead to the failure, or even collapse of electricity transmission towers which are vital components of an overhead electric power delivery system. For assessing the performance and robustness, a high-fidelity three-dimension finite element model of a long span transmission tower-line system is established with the consideration of geometric nonlinearity and material nonlinearity. In the numerical model, the Tian-Ma-Qu material model is utilized to capture the nonlinear behaviours of structural members, and the cumulative damage D is defined as an index to identify the failure of members. Consequently, incremental dynamic analyses (IDAs) are conducted to study the collapse fragility, damage positions, collapse margin ratio (CMR) and dynamic robustness of the transmission towers by using twenty near-fault ground motions selected from PEER. Based on the bending and shear deformation of structures, the collapse mechanism of electricity transmission towers subjected to Chi-Chi earthquake is investigated. This research can serve as a reference for the performance of large span transmission tower line system subjected to near-fault ground motions.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.16 no.5
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• pp.513-522
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• 2019

A long-span transmission tower-line system is indispensable for long-distance electricity transmission across a large river or valley; hence, the failure of this system, especially the collapse of the supporting towers, has serious impacts on power grids. To ensure the safety and reliability of transmission systems, this study experimentally and numerically investigates the collapse failure of a 220 kV long-span transmission tower-line system subjected to severe earthquakes. A 1:20 scale model of a transmission tower-line system is constructed in this research, and shaking table tests are carried out. Furthermore, numerical studies are conducted in ABAQUS by using the Tian-Ma-Qu material model, the results of which are compared with the experimental findings. Good agreement is found between the experimental and numerical results, showing that the numerical simulation based on the Tian-Ma-Qu material model is able to predict the weak points and collapse process of the long-span transmission tower-line system. The failure of diagonal members at weak points constitutes the collapse-inducing factor, and the ultimate capacity and weakest segment vary with different seismic wave excitations. This research can further enrich the database for the seismic performance of long-span transmission tower-line systems.

• Wind and Structures
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• v.31 no.6
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• pp.509-522
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• 2020

Wind load is the principal cause for a large number of the collapse of transmission lines around the world. The transmission line is traditionally designed for wind load according to a linear equivalent method, in which dynamic effects of wind are not appropriately included. Therefore, in the present study, incremental dynamic analysis is utilized to investigate the stability behavior of a 400 kV transmission line under wind load. In that case, the effects of vibration of cables and aerodynamic damping of cables were considered on the stability behavior of the transmission line. Superposition of the harmonic waves method was used to calculate the wind load. The corresponding wind speed to the beginning of the transmission line collapse was determined by incremental dynamic analysis. Also, the effect of the yawed wind was studied to determine the critical attack angle by the incremental dynamic method. The results show the collapse mechanisms of the transmission line and the maximum supportable wind speed, which is predicted 6m/s less than the design wind speed of the studied transmission line. Based on the numerical modeling results, a retrofitting method has been proposed to prevent failure of the tower members under design wind speed.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.42 no.6
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• pp.883-897
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• 2012

Cold-formed channel sections are used in a variety of applications in which they are required to absorb deformation energy. This paper investigates the collapse behaviour and energy absorption capability of cold-formed steel channels with flange edge stiffeners under large deformation major-axis bending. The Yield Line Mechanism technique is applied using the energy method, and based upon measured spatial plastic collapse mechanisms from experiments. Analytical solutions for the collapse curve and in-plane rotation capacity are developed, and used to model the large deformation behaviour and energy absorption. The analytical results are shown to compare well with experimental values. Due to the complexities of the yield line model of the collapse mechanism, a simplified procedure to calculate the energy absorbed by channel sections under large bending deformation is developed and also shown to compare well with the experiments.

• The Transactions of The Korean Institute of Electrical Engineers
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• v.59 no.3
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• pp.531-535
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• 2010

345kV Incheon Thermal Power Plant Transmission Line Collapse Analysis and Countermeasures. The Typhoon Galmaegi which had been formed in July 15, 2008 diminished into a tropical cyclone and cooled the air above the West Sea. The cooled air colliding with the warm inland air caused a strong whirlwind at some places in the west seaside; the whirlwind battered the 345kV Incheon Thermal Power Plant Transmission Line to be collapsed. The resistance of transmission towers against wind pressure, one of the key elements in transmission line engineering, is designed to endure the pressure corresponding to the maximum instantaneous wind speed. Before the above accident happened, no transmission line has ever been collapsed by a whirlwind. So this paper is aimed to analyze causes that collapsed 345kV Incheon Thermal Power Plant transmission line and to introduce countermeasures.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.6 no.7
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• pp.773-784
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• 1998

To assess the collapse risk of transmission line structures subject to natural hazards, it is important to identify what hazard may cause the structural collapse. In Australia and many other countries, a large proportion of failures of transmission line structures are caused by severe thunderstorms. Because the wind loads generated by thunderstorms are not only random but time-variant as well, a time-dependent structural reliability approach for the risk assessment of transmission line structures is essential. However, a lack of appropriate stochastic models for thunderstorm winds usually makes this kind of analysis impossible. The intention of the paper is to propose a stochastic model that could realistically and accurately simulate wind loading due to severe thunderstorms. With the proposed thunderstorm model, the collapse risk of transmission line structures under severe thunderstorms is assessed numerically based on the computed failure probability of the structure.

• Journal of Electrical Engineering and Technology
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• v.4 no.4
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• pp.438-442
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• 2009

Voltage instability is a phenomenon that could occur in power systems due to stressed conditions. The result would be an occurrence of voltage collapse leading to total blackout of the system. Therefore, voltage collapse prediction is an important part of power system planning and operation, and can help ensure that voltage collapse due to voltage instability is avoided. Line outages in power systems may also cause voltage collapse, thereby implying the contingency in the system. Contingency problems caused by line outages have been identified as one of the main causes of voltage instability in power systems. This paper presents a new technique for contingency ranking based on voltage stability conditions in power systems. A new line stability index was formulated and used to identify the critical line outages and sensitive lines in the system. Line outage contingency ranking was performed on several loading conditions in order to identify the effect of an increase in loading to critical line outages. Correlation studies on the results obtained from contingency ranking and voltage stability analysis were also conducted, and it was found that line outages in weak lines would cause voltage instability conditions in a system. Subsequently, using the results from the contingency ranking, weak areas in the system can be identified. The proposed contingency ranking technique was tested on the IEEE reliability test system.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.71 no.3
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• pp.305-315
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• 2019

Extremely long-span transmission tower-line system is an indispensable portion of an electricity transmission system, and its failures or collapse can impact on the entire electricity grid, affect the modern life, and cause great economic losses. It is therefore imperative to investigate the failure and safety of the transmission tower subjected to ground motions. In the present study, a detailed finite element (FE) model of a representative extremely long-span transmission tower-line system is established. A segmental damage indicator (SDI) is proposed to quantitatively assess the damage level of each segment of the transmission tower under earthquakes. Additionally, parametric studies are conducted to investigate the influence of different ground motions and incident angles on the ultimate capacity and weakest segment of the transmission tower. Finally, the collapse fragility curve in terms of the maximum SDI value and PGA is plotted for the exampled transmission tower. The results show that the proposed SDI can quantitatively assess the damage level of the segments, and thus determine the ultimate capacity and weakest segment of the transmission tower. Moreover, the different ground motions and incident angles have a significant influence on the SDI values of the transmission tower, and the collapse fragility curve is utilized to evaluate the collapse resistant capacity of the transmission tower subjected to ground motions.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.19 no.6
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• pp.445-457
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• 2020

An ultra-high voltage (UHV) transmission system has the advantages of low circuitry loss, high bulk capacity and long-distance transmission capabilities over conventional transmission systems, but it is easier for this system to cross fault rupture zones and become damaged during earthquakes. This paper experimentally and numerically investigates the seismic responses and collapse failure of a UHV transmission tower-line system crossing a fault. A 1:25 reduced-scale model is constructed and tested by using shaking tables to evaluate the influence of the forward-directivity and fling-step effects on the responses of suspension-type towers. Furthermore, the collapse failure tests of the system under specific cross-fault scenarios are carried out. The corresponding finite element (FE) model is established in ABAQUS software and verified based on the Tian-Ma-Qu material model. The results reveal that the seismic responses of the transmission system under the cross-fault scenario are larger than those under the near-fault scenario, and the permanent ground displacements in the fling-step ground motions tend to magnify the seismic responses of the fault-crossing transmission system. The critical collapse peak ground acceleration (PGA), failure mode and weak position determined by the model experiment and numerical simulation are in relatively good agreement. The sequential failure of the members in Segments 4 and 5 leads to the collapse of the entire model, whereas other segments basically remain in the intact state.

• Proceedings of the KIEE Conference
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• 1993.07a
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• pp.134-136
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• 1993

This paper presents a novel and efficient method to calculate the critical point of voltage collapse. Conjugate gradient and modified Newton-Raphson methods are employed to calculate two pairs of multiple load flow solutions for two operating conditions, i.e., both +mode and -mode voltages for two loading conditions respectively. Then these four voltage magnitude-load data sets of the bus which is most susceptible to voltage collapse, are fitted to third order polynomial using Lagrangian interpolation in order to represent approximate nose curve (P-V curve). This nose curve locates first estimate of the critical point of voltage collapse. The procedure described above is repeated near the critical point and the new estimate will be very close to the critical point. The proposed method is tested for the eleven bus Klos-Kerner system, with good accuracy and fast computation time.