Aero-elastic testing of multi-spanned transmission line subjected to downbursts. Issue 169 (October 2017) - Elawady, Amal
Abstract: This paper reports the first aero-elastic test conducted under a scaled downburst wind field at the WindEEE dome facility at the University of Western Ontario, Canada. The main purpose of the test is to assess the dynamic response of a multi-span transmission line. The study starts by providing a characterization of the downburst wind field produced in WindEEE including a comparison with results of previously conducted numerical simulations. A number of test configurations, involving different locations of the downburst relative to the line, is considered. A decomposition approach is developed to separate between the resonant and the background components of the response. The results are presented in the form of a dynamic magnification factor that relates the peak response including the dynamic effect to the maximum quasi-static response. The test results show that the resonance contribution ranges between 5% and 10% of the peak response for the tower. They also show that the dynamic response of the conductors can reach up to 30% and 12% of the peak response at low and high downburst speeds, respectively. Highlights: The dynamic response of a transmission line structure subjected to simulated downburst wind field is assessed. A number of six towers are simulated according to scale 1:50. A downburst of 3.2 m diameter is simulated at the WindEEE dome. Different downburst wind angles are considered.