First South East European

Regional CIGRÉ Conference SEERC

Portoroz, Slovenia, 7—8 June 2016

Unsymmetrical Spacer Damper designed

to control the sub span oscillation of a
conductor bundle
Paper number 4-15

M.M., MASSIMO MUGGIASCA

 Outline
 Introduction

 Vibration Phenomena
Aeolian vibration
Galloping
Subspan oscillation

 Subspan Oscillation – Effect & Control

 New Spacer Damper Design

 Conclusion

First South East European Regional CIGRÉ Conference - Portoroz, Slovenia, 7—8 June 2016 SEERC
 Introduction
Two years ago Politecnico di Milano Engineers presented a paper regarding a
work performed with the aim to find out the way to control Subspan Oscillations.

The conclusion of this work was that a special design of spacer damper could
avoid the exicitation of the subspan oscillation in bundle T/L.

Our works started from that conclusion with the aim to develop the concept and
finalize the proper spacer damper.

First South East European Regional CIGRÉ Conference - Portoroz, Slovenia, 7—8 June 2016 SEERC
 Vibration Phenomena
Vibrations induced by the wind on single and bundled conductors generate
undesirable and dangerous phenomena on the OHTL:

 Aeolian Vibrations (Vortex Shedding)

 Galloping

 Wake Induced Oscillations (Subspan Oscillations) ))

First South East European Regional CIGRÉ Conference - Portoroz, Slovenia, 7—8 June 2016 SEERC
 OHTL – Bundle Configuration

Different
bundleTwin
configuration
are used on
OHTL

First South East European Regional CIGRÉ Conference - Portoroz, Slovenia, 7—8 June 2016 SEERC
 OHTL - Spacer Dampers
Eight Twin

Triple

Spacer dampers are used

to maintain the bundle
geometry / spacing and to
add damping to the cables

Quad
Six

First South East European Regional CIGRÉ Conference - Portoroz, Slovenia, 7—8 June 2016 SEERC
 Vibration phenomena
Aeolian vibration

First South East European Regional CIGRÉ Conference - Portoroz, Slovenia, 7—8 June 2016 SEERC
 Vibration phenomena - Aeolian Vibrations

WIND

Aeolian vibrations occur almost on any T/L and are due to vortex shedding excitation
When >>> Single & Bundle

Caused by >>> Vortex shedding

Winds >>> Low to Moderates

Amplitudes >>> Small vertical (up to 1 cable diam)

Frequencies >>> 5–100 Hz > Cond. size & tensile load

Effect >>> Fatigue (bending + fretting) on the strands of the

conductor close to suspension or dead end clamps
Controlled by >>> Vibration Dampers - Spacer Dampers

First South East European Regional CIGRÉ Conference - Portoroz, Slovenia, 7—8 June 2016 SEERC
 Vibration phenomena
Aeolian vibration

Fatigue It is the result of a combined effect of alternate bending strain and

of fretting among the single wires of the conductor.

Causes the generation of micro-cracks which, depending on the strain

level, may cause failure of the single wires and finally of the conductor.
Fretting
Fretting drastically lowers the fatigue limit of a stranded cable with
respect to the fatigue limit of a single wire of the same material.

First South East European Regional CIGRÉ Conference - Portoroz, Slovenia, 7—8 June 2016 SEERC
Vibration Phenomena - Ice Galloping

Occurs due to the aerodynamic forces that wind

induces in the conductor (Lift and Drag)
When >>> Single & Bundle
Caused by >>> Ice accretion shape
Winds >>> Medium - High speed ( V > 15 m/s )
Amplitudes >>> High (up to the sag)
Frequencies >>> Lower than 1 Hz
Effect >>> Phase Clashing – Insulator strings &
Tower breakages
Controlled by >>> Special devices

First South East European Regional CIGRÉ Conference - Portoroz, Slovenia, 7—8 June 2016 SEERC
Vibration phenomena - Ice galloping - Failures

First South East European Regional CIGRÉ Conference - Portoroz, Slovenia, 7—8 June 2016 SEERC
 Vibration phenomena -Subspan

First South East European Regional CIGRÉ Conference - Portoroz, Slovenia, 7—8 June 2016 SEERC
 Vibration phenomena -Subspan oscillation

Occurs only with couple of sub-conductors, one in the wake of the other. It is an instability
phenomenon in which the elliptical trajectory is due to the coupling of vertical and horizontal
modes of vibration.
When >>> Bundle
Caused by >>> Wake effect
Winds >>> Medium / High speed (V > 10 m/s)
Amplitudes >>> High (up to conductor spacing)
Frequencies >>> 0,7 – 2 Hz
Effect >>> Clashing – Clamp bolts loosening
Controlled by >>> Spacer Dampers Spacing
First South East European Regional CIGRÉ Conference - Portoroz, Slovenia, 7—8 June 2016 SEERC
 Vibration phenomena
Subspan oscillation

Subspan oscillations may cause sub-

conductor clashing with possible
breakage

Effects

Spacer dampers clamp bolts loosening

due to the high forces transmitted to the
spacers dampers

First South East European Regional CIGRÉ Conference - Portoroz, Slovenia, 7—8 June 2016 SEERC
 Vibration phenomena
Comparison

Aeolian Subspan
WHEN Single & bundle Only bundle
CAUSED BY Vortex shedding Wake effect
WINDS Moderates Medium/ High speed
(V>10 m/s)
AMPLITUDES Small (< ø conductor) High (< spacing)
FREQUENCIES 5 – 100 Hz 0,7 – 2 Hz

EFFECTS Fatigue (bending + Conductor clashing –

fretting) Clamp bolt loosening
CONTROLLED Vibration dampers – Spacer dampers
BY Spacer dampers

First South East European Regional CIGRÉ Conference - Portoroz, Slovenia, 7—8 June 2016 SEERC
 Vibration phenomena
Subspan oscillation
How can it be controlled ?

The method to control the sub-span oscillation is the choice of the correct spacer
damper’s geometry combined with the optimization of their spacing along the span.
Particularly, taking care of :

 Correct Design of OHTL (Conductor, tension load, towers )

Classical
approach  Limiting the maximum subspan length – increase of SD

 Alternating different subspan lengths with a correct ratio

Salvi’s upgrade  New geometry of the Spacer Damper

First South East European Regional CIGRÉ Conference - Portoroz, Slovenia, 7—8 June 2016 SEERC
 Vibration phenomena
Subspan oscillation

Classical approach

The phenomenon is due to the coupling of horizontal subspan mode with bundle
torsional or vertical subspan mode of vibration.

Mandatory is a proper definition of sub-span lengths.

 Long subspans have to be avoided because as the lenght increases, the

frequency decreases and the vibration amplitude increases

 An alternance of different sub-span lengths has to be properly used because

produces a change in the horizontal mode frequency and then in the coupling
between the modes.

.
First South East European Regional CIGRÉ Conference - Portoroz, Slovenia, 7—8 June 2016 SEERC
 Vibration phenomena
Subspan oscillation

Salvi’s upgrade

Salvi, with the cooperation of Politecnico di Milano, studied a new quad bundle
spacer damper, having a different shape to improve its effectiveness.

Classical design Salvi New concept

First South East European Regional CIGRÉ Conference - Portoroz, Slovenia, 7—8 June 2016 SEERC
Salvi’s Upgrade – New Spacer Damper

New
software

New New
design concept

First South East European Regional CIGRÉ Conference - Portoroz, Slovenia, 7—8 June 2016 SEERC
 Salvi’s Upgrade – New Spacer Damper
NEW SOFTWARE. Salvi sponsored a research
with Politecnico di Milano aimed at improving the
knowledge on subspan oscillation. The first step of
the research produced a new software for subspan
effect calculation.

NEW CONCEPT. Another outcome of the

research has been the development of a new
concept of spacer damper, not only featured to the
control of aeolian vibration but also oriented to the
control of subspan oscillations.

NEW DESIGN. All the quad Spacer Dampers in

use were designed to control the vibration of a
symmetric bundle and consequently their structure is
symmetric with respect to the vertical plane. The
upgrade was to introduce the possibility of a not
symmetric shape.
First South East European Regional CIGRÉ Conference - Portoroz, Slovenia, 7—8 June 2016 SEERC
 Classic Symmetric Spacer Damper
No Wind
The natural frequency of the vertical mode is lower than
the horizontal one

At the increasing of the wind

The vertical mode increases up to be very close to the
frequency of the horizontal one

Conclusion
This determines the coupling of the two modes and the
consequent beginning of the conductor elliptical
motion and subspan phenomenon on the bundle.

First South East European Regional CIGRÉ Conference - Portoroz, Slovenia, 7—8 June 2016 SEERC
New Spacer Damper –New Concept – New Design
No Wind
The final result of the research performed by Salvi with
Politecnico di Milano is the design of a Spacer Damper able to
guarantee that the natural frequencies of vertical modes are
always higher than the horizontal ones

At the increasing of the wind

The clear consequence is that the coupling of vibration modes
cannot happen, preventing the line from subspan phenomenon

Conclusion
The new spacer design must be ASYMMETRICAL

First South East European Regional CIGRÉ Conference - Portoroz, Slovenia, 7—8 June 2016 SEERC
New Design - Asymmetric spacer damper

First South East European Regional CIGRÉ Conference - Portoroz, Slovenia, 7—8 June 2016 SEERC
 New Design - Asymmetric spacer damper
Typical application

Asymmetric Standard

Conductor type ACAR ø 30,38 mm

Conductor tensile load [N] 20870
Span Length [m] 420
N° Spacer dampers 8 12
Maximum aeolian [µs] 62 44
Maximum sub-span
0 68
oscillation [mm p.p.]

First South East European Regional CIGRÉ Conference - Portoroz, Slovenia, 7—8 June 2016 SEERC
New Design - Asymmetric spacer damper
State of the art
 Salvi has equipped with asymmetric spacers dampers some spans of
a TL in very severe working conditions.

 The first survey of the T/L has already been done

with no evidence of negative events.

 A field measurement campaign is currently in progress.

It is performed also with the intent to compare
the classic solution with the new design.
Span with asymmetric Span with standard
Lenght 447 m Lenght 420 m
N° of s.d. 10 N° of s.d. 12

First South East European Regional CIGRÉ Conference - Portoroz, Slovenia, 7—8 June 2016 SEERC
New Design - Asymmetric spacer damper
State of the art
Fully tested and approved
mechanical and electrical type
tests foreseen by IEC 61854
Specification

Spacer dampers supplied in T/L

already in service

First South East European Regional CIGRÉ Conference - Portoroz, Slovenia, 7—8 June 2016 SEERC
 Asymmetric spacer damper
Advantages & Gains
Innovation Performances
Introduces a
Prevents the
totally new
subspan
concept and
occurrence
design

Quality
Savings
Assures the control
of aeolian vibrations Reduced
quantities
Guarantees proper Reduced
functional assembly
mechanical-
electrical Reduced
performances maintenance

First South East European Regional CIGRÉ Conference - Portoroz, Slovenia, 7—8 June 2016 SEERC
 Thank you for your attention

First South East European Regional CIGRÉ Conference - Portoroz, Slovenia, 7—8 June 2016 SEERC