CICED2008 Technical Session 1
81-22 CP1447
Calculation of Wind-induced Dynamic Load of Transmission Tower
Considering Coupled Vibration Affection of Conductors
Yang Jingbo, Li Zheng
China Electric Power Research Institute, Beijing, 100055
Abstract: A simplified model, which is composed of one
tower and two spans of conductors, is given for overhead
transmission line system. With tower regarded as cantilever
beam and conductor as string, analytical calculation method
of wind-induced vibration response of the mechanics system
are studied based on the random vibration theory. A factor
called dynamic load factor is introduced to the tower.
Vibration response and dynamic factor of a typical
transmission line is calculated with the method. Results
getting from the analytical method are almost the same as that
from Finite Element Method (FEM). It indicates the
simplified mechanics model is reasonable and practicable, as
well as the analytical method. Although responses of tower
are different on conditions considering and not considering
the coupled vibration affection of conductors, while the
factors are about the same value. Then, dynamic load of tower
of the former condition is small than that of the later.
Keywords: Transmission line, Wind-induced vibration,
Coupled, Wind-induced dynamic load factor of tower
1. Introduction
Overhead transmission line is composed of conductors,
towers, foundations and some attachments, and is a
continuous and coupled space structure. But the ingredients of
that are analyzed independently at present in the process of
design, and the vibrating interaction of tower and conductor
are not considered. But for UH~ long span transmission lines
and some multi-circuit transmission lines on same tower, the
height of tower are greatly increased, and also the flexibility
and wind-induced vibration response. On the other hand,
large-section and multi-bundle conductors are now commonly
used in China, which cause the growth of weight and wind
load of conductors. Then, the coupled vibration between
tower and conductors is increased distinctly because of these
new changes on transmission lines. Thus, the wind-induced
load of tower, obtained from the calculation method not
considering the coupled vibration affection of conductors, can
Distribution network equipment
not reflect the practical condition. If the wind load calculated
is on the low side, the tower will be unsafe. While if the load
is on the high side, the tower will be heavy, and dynamic load
induced destroy is not sure to be avoided. Dynamic wind load
affects the safety and economics of transmission tower; it
should be calculated as accurate as possible.It is necessary to
consider the coupled vibration of tower and conductor into
tower design and transmission line operation.
In this paper, with a simplified mechanics model,
consisted of one tower and two spans of conductors,
analytical calculation method of wind-induced vibration
response of the system are studied based on the random
vibration theory. Vibration response of a typical transmission
line is calculated with the analytical method, and compared
with that of Finite Element Method (FEM). It shows the
simplified mechanics model is reasonable and practicable, as
well as the analytical method. Dynamic load of tower
obtained from the analytical method this paper given is small
than that of not considering the coupled vibration affection of
conductors on tower presently using.
2. Simplified Mechanics Model of
Transmission Line
Transmission line can be simplified as a model
composed of one tower and two spans of conductors. It is
because characteristics of the coupled system obtained from
the model is identical to that from other more complicate
model, such as a model with three towers and two spans of
conductors [1,2,3]. FEM analysis of a typical line indicates
that end constrain of conductor has little affection on the
characteristics of tower [4,5]. Span of two adjacent towers
usually reach to hundreds even thousands of kilometres is the
main reason. With tower regarded as cantilever beam and
conductor as string, we obtain a mechanics model of
tower-conductor coupled system as shown in Fig.l.
 CICED2008 Technical Session 1 Distribution network equipment

= PtA(Z~I(Z)WO [.r IJslJz(z)B(z)v[(z)dz + 2V.1'2

(6)
IJsclJz(z)Dv2(x2)dx2 }

4. Analytical Calculation Method of

Fig.I Simplified mechanics modelof transmission line
Dynamic Wind Load

The predominant frequency of natural wind is below The motion equation of tower under pulsing wind can be
than the first vibration frequency of transmission line usually. expressed as (Ref. [6])

ij + 2'(21i~)q + (21i~)2 q = Fd(t) = FD(t)

According to engineering experience and FEM analysis
(7)
[2,3,4], when the first wind-induced vibration of the coupled m
system appears, the vibration of conductor is out of the plane where q is the generalized coordinate, and ~ is the
composed of tower and conductor. Then, we can only damping ratio. The pulsing wind pressure (Ref. [7]) of tower is
consider the first vibration of conductor and the vibration out Pd(Z,t) = PaPsB(z)v(z)v(z,t) (8)
of the plane when we study the wind-induced response of the The cross power spectrum of pulsating wind pressure
tower-conductor coupled system. (Ref. [8]) at point Z and z' of tower is
Sw(z,z',n) = p;ps(z)ps(z')B(z)B(z')v(z)v(z')Sv(z,z',n)
3. Analytical Calculation Method of Static
(9)
Wind Load where Sv(z,z',n) is the cross power spectrum of
The first generalized displacement of tower of the pulsating wind velocity v(z, t) at point z and z'. Using
coupled system under static wind load can be expressed as Davenport wind velocity spectrum, we have
F Sv(z,z',n) = Sv(n)R(z,z',n) (10)
q= 0 (1)
(21i~)2m The pulsing wind pressure of conductor is
where ~ is the first vibration frequency of the system, P2d(Z,t) = PaPscDv(z)v(x,z,t) (11)
and m is the mode mass. The generalized static wind load , and the cross power spectrum of pulsating wind
of Fo ' including loads of tower and conductors, is given by pressure at point (x, z) and (x', z') of conductor is

r; = .r Po(z)v[(z)dz + 2 1'2 P2(z)v 2(xz}dx2 (2)

where Po(z) is static wind load of tower at height of
z , and P2(Z) is that of conductors. And v1(z) and
are the first vibration mode of tower and conductor,
separately.
Then, the first generalized displacement of the tower can
be written as
2
S2w(x,x';z,z';n) = p;D psc(z)psc(z')v(z)v(z')Sv(x,x';z,z';n)
(12)
where Sv(x,x';z,z';n) is the cross power spectrum of
V 2(X2)
pulsating wind velocity v(x,z,t) at point (x,z) and (x',z').
According to the definition of coherence function, we have
Sv(x,x';z,z';n) = R(x,x';z,z';n)Sv(n) (13)
Then, the auto-power spectrum of FD(t) can be written as

.r 1
Po(z)v (z)dz + 2 1'2 P2(Z)V2(x 2)dx2 SF(n) =
.r.r VI(z)v.(z')Sw(z, z', n)dzdz'
2 +
q = (3) m
s (21in1)2 m

and the static displacement as

Ys(z) =
.r Po(z)v.(z)dz + 2 1'2 P2(Z)V2(x 2)dx2 v1(z)
2 (4)
(14)
(21i~) m that is
where

(5)

So we obtain the static wind load of tower

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 CICED2008 Technical Session 1 Distribution network equipment

V2(X;)Jl:C rr
C~ (;~ 2
D R(x ,x';z ,z' ;n)Sv(n)dzdz'dx2dx;]

(15)
Tab .r

type
Parameters of conductor and ground wire

sectional
area
outer weight working
modulus
elastici~
diameter(mm) (kglkm) tension
(mm') (kglmm)
The auto-power spectrum of tower displacement
response (Ref [8]) is conductor 546.24 30.95 3920 138180 14200
2
Sy(z,n) = v:(z)IH.(in)1 SF(n) (16) ground
wire 327.7 23.6 2400 87710 15400
and the square root of deviation is

O"y(z) = ~ .c Sy(z,n)dn (17)

5.1 Calculation of analytical method
Then, we have the dynamic load of pulsating wind According to the calculation method shown in
PAz) = IIfP,A(z)(2JT~)20"/Z) documents [4], we obtain that the outstanding couple
,--------
= IIfP,A(z)(2JTn1)2 v.(z) [IH (i n)12SF(n)dn
1 (18)
vibration occurs at the 12th vibration of conductor and the
first vibration of tower. The first vibration frequency is 0.58
5. Analytical Calculation Method of Hz, and the modes are as follows

Wind-induced Dynamic Load v.(Z)=q.I(Z)+q2 2(Z)

A factor called wind-induced dynamic load factor is

introduced to express the dynamic load of the tower.The
V 2(X2) = Q33(X2)+Q4 4(X2)
factor can be expressed as
p=l+ Pd(z) (19) =0.7468sinCJTt2 )+1.0(1- ~2 )+~(~2 )(1- ~2)
P,(z)
V3(X3) = Qss(x3) + Q66(X3)
The above factor has concluded the dynamic load of
conductor of tower-conductor system. =0.7468sinC~X3 )+1.0(1- Xl )+~( ~3 )(1- ~3)
Calculation method concerning the first vibration
(0 ~x2~1, 0 ~x3 ~J)
frequency and mode of tower-conductor coupled system can
Based on the method this paper given, the largest
refer to document [4].
deformation of the tower under static wind is 0.572m, as
6. Calculation Example of Wind-induced shown in Fig.3. And the square root of dynamic response of
Dynamic Load the tower under pulsating wind is O.l27m, as shown in FigA.
That is the largest value of dynamic response is about
In this paper, wind-induced vibration response and
0.381m.
dynamic factor of a 220kV large-span transmission line in
Nanjing are analyzed with the analytical method and FEM.
Length of strain section and straight section of the line are
2837m and 1933m, separately. And the height of large-span 0 .5
steel tubular tower is 195.5m, as shown in Fig.2. Tab.l lists
the parameters of conductor and ground wire.
0.4

0 .3

0.2

01

o 20 40 60 80 100 120 140 160 180

Fig.3 Tower deformation under static wind

Fig.2 A large-span steel tubular tower

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 CICED2008 Technical Session 1 Distribution network equipment

Tab.4 The largest deformation of tower and

180
160 conductor under pulsating wind (m)
140 deformation direction
object Wind direction
120 outofthe plane intheplane
100 perpendicular to
plane 76.0 1.2
80
conductor 45
60 106.0 2.20
40 parallel toplane 2.5 2.5
20 perpendicular to
plane 0.38 OAO
o 0.02 0.04 0.06 0.08 0.1 0.12 tower
45 0.39 0.81
Fig.4Tower deformation under pulsating wind
parallel toplane 0.08 0.45
Tab.2 lists the responses and the dynamic factors of the
tower. The dynamic factor is 1.51 for the condition not Tab.4 lists the deformation of the tower and conductor
considering the affection of conductors. It is small than that of under different direction of pulsating wind. Fig.6 shows the
the condition tower-conductor coupled. deformation moire pattern of the transmission line under
dynamic wind with direction perpendicular to the plane. We
Tab.2 Responses and dynamic factors of the tower
can see that the deformation of conductor and tower have the
considering affection of conductors
characteristics like that under static wind.
the largest thelargest wind-induced Tab.2 lists the responses and the dynamic factors of the
calculation deformation deformation
dynamic factor
method under static under dynamic oftower tower. The dynamic factor is 1.68 for the condition not
wind (mm) wind (mm)
considering the vibration affection of conductors. It is large
analytical 572 381 1.67
method than that of the condition tower and conductor coupled.
FEM 669 380 1.56
.1.

......
5.2 Calculation of FEM
u
Tab.3 lists the deformation of the tower and conductor
under different direction of static wind. Fig.5 shows the ;w

deformation moire pattern of the transmission line under

static wind with direction perpendicular to the plane
.--
composed of tower and conductors. We can see that the
Fig.5 moire pattern under static wind with direction
largest deformation of conductors appear when the direction
perpendicular to the plane
of vibration is identical to the wind. The deformation of tower
z
in the plane has large deformation when the direction of wind ,A,
parallel to the plan. While for the wind direction
perpendicular to the plane, the out of and in the plane

I"..~
deformation of tower are all large.
.
Tab.J The largest deformation of tower and ""
_.1l/1l
r
conductor under static wind (m)
"""
''''
deformation direction "'"
' M

object wind direction

out oftheplane intheplane
perpendicular to 90.06 0.80
plane
conductor 45 Fig.6 moire pattern under dynamic wind withdirection
61.39 2.25
perpendicular to the plane
parallel toplane 0.165 3.78
perpendicular to 7. Conclusions
plane 0.669 0.392
tower 45 0.308 0.386 The analytical methods, calculating the dynamic
parallel toplane 0.037 0.346 response and wind-induced dynamic factor of tower

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 CICED2008 Technical Session 1 Distribution network equipment

considering the coupled vibration affection of conductor, are [4] Yang Jingbo, Li Zheng, Jiang Jun. Dynamic
given in this paper. And a transmission line as an example is Characteristics of Wind-induced Coupled Vibration
analyzed with the method, as well as FEM. The results of Between Conductor and Tower of Transmission Line.
response and factor getting from the two methods are close. It Journal of Vibration, Measurement & Diagnosis.
indicates the analytical methods are reasonable and 2008(2): 147-150
practicable. In addition, the factor of the coupled system is [5] Hu Song, Tang Guoan, Yang Yuanchun. Study on
close or little small than that of the single tower. Then, dynamic characteristics of long span transmission tower.
dynamic load of tower considering the affection of conductor Steel Structure, 2000, 15(47):39-41
is small than that according to the Standard presently using [6] L. Meriovitch, Elements of vibration Analysis, 2nd edition,
[9]. McGraw-Hill, 1986.
[7] E. Simiu, R. H. Scanlan, Wind Effects on Structures: An
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[1] S. Ozono, J. Maeda, M. Makino. Characteristics of in Wiley-Interscience. 1986.
plane free vibration of transmission line systems[J]. [8] T. T. Soong, M. Grigoriu, Random Vibration of
Engineering Structures, 1988,10(3):272-280 Mechanical and Structural Systems, Prentice-Hall, 1993.
[2] Zhu Jihua. Theoretical and experimental study on dynamic [9] Chinese Standards of Power Electric Industry. Technical
responses of electrical transmission tower-line system [D]. regulation of design for tower and pole structures of
Master's degree paper of Wuhan University,2002 overhead transmission line. Beijing: China Power
[3] Yin Huijun. Wind-induced response and vibration control Electric Press, 2002.
of long-span transmission system [D]. Master's degree
paper of Wuhan Technology University, 2003