Review of Last Class

Mechanical design
Sag and tension calculations
Mechanical Design
Main Factors
Factors affecting
Conductor load per unit length (w)
Tower spacing, span length (L=2l)
Temperature ()
Conductor tension (T)
Mechanical loadings
Weight of conductor itself
Weight of ice or snow clinging to wire
Wind blowing against wire
Calculation of Sag and Tension
Sag is defined as vertical distance between the point where
the line is joined to the tower to the lowest point on the line.
Span is horizontal distance between two towers.
Vertical distance between lowest point on line to the ground
plane is called ground clearance.
Knowledge of maximum sag is essential in determining
ground clearance.
220 kV line GC 7.0 m SL 380 CC 5.1 m
400 kV line GC 8.8 m SL 400 CC 7.0 m
Sag depends on the tension with which conductors are
pulled.
Calculation of Sag and Tension
L=2l =Span length
O is the lowest point on the wire

ws =weight per unit length
H = tension at point O
T = tension at point P
y
b

y
a

2l


2l-x
1

Support at Same Heights
T at Ends
or Max
If the towers at same height and span is 2l, i.e. half span is l
Conductor
Length
Sag
Conductor
Tension
Supports at Different Heights
For tower B
For tower A
Therefore, difference in tower heights
Approximate Formulae for Sag and Tension
Small Spans
and
and
Parabolic Approximation
In case of short spans (distribution lines) with small sag
(less than 10%), the curve can be considered as parabola.
Sag less than 6% could give only 0.5% error
Sag between 6-10 % could give only 2% error



For small spans

Effect of Ice Covering and Wind
If the ice thickness is more than 0.5 cm then it is considered.

Effect of ice covering (w
i
) is to increase the weight of conductor (w
c
) ,
and thus increases the vertical sag.
If r is radius of conductor and t is thickness of ice
layer.

( )
( )
( )
( )
i c T
T
i
i
W W W
W
rt t W
rt t
r t rt r
r t r V
+ =
+ =
+ =
+ + =
+ =
) ( weight total Therefore,
kg/m 2
ice of density the is If
m 2
2
2
3 2
2 2 2
2
2
t

t
t
t t
( ) t r + 2
r 2
Effect of Ice Covering and Wind
The wind pressure acts on the conductor in
horizontal direction. Assume that wind
blows uniformaly.
If p is the wind pressure, wind loading (w
w
)




The wind pressure depends on the velocity
of the wind.


kg/m 2 p r w
w
=
Conductor alone
( ) kg/m 2 p t r w
w
+ =
Conductor + Ice
2 2
kg/m 006 . 0 v p =




The resultant weight of the conductor is:




The angle at which loading is acting is:

Effect of Ice Covering and Wind
Conductor alone
Conductor + Ice
kg/m
2 2
w c T
w w w + =
( ) kg/m
2
2
w i c T
w w w w + + =
w
w

w
c
or
(w
c
+ w
i
) w
T


Conductor alone
Conductor + Ice
( )
c w
w w
1
tan

= |
( ) ( )
i c w
w w w + =
1
tan |
Stringing Chart
The curves of sag and tension with temperature variation are called
the Stringing Charts.
Stringing chart is helpful in providing sag and tension at any
temperature, if the sag and tension is know at any particular
temperature.
They are useful in erecting line conductors at specified temperature
and loading conditions.
At high temperature, sag is more and tension is less whereas at low
temperature sag is less but tension is more.




Stringing Chart
w Load per unit length
f Stress (tension per mm
2
)
S Conductor length (half span)
d Sag
Temperature
A Area of cross section of conductor
Coefficient of linear expansion
E Youngs modulus
Subscripts 1 and 2 denote temperatures at maximum load conditions and
under stringing conditions (installation or erection of transmission line).

Stringing Chart
For short spans

and

At temperature
1




At temperature
2

T=A f
2 2
3 2
6 f A
l w
l S + =
2
1
2
3
2
1
1
6 f A
l w
l S + =
2
2
2
3
2
2
2
6 f A
l w
l S + =
1
2
1
1
2 f A
l w
d =
2
2
2
2
2 f A
l w
d =
and
and
Stringing Chart
Due to increase in temperature from
1
to
2
,increase in
length is:


There is another effect increase in temperature from
1
to

2
,decrease tension or stress from f
1
to f
2
:



Therefore new length is:

( ) ( ) l S o u u o u u
1 2 1 2
~
l
E
f f
S
E
f f
|
.
|

\
|

~
|
.
|

\
|

2 1 2 1
u o A = A
0
l l
E
l f
l
0
A
= A
( ) l
E
f f
l S S
|
.
|

\
|

+ =
2 1
1 2 1 2
o u u
Stringing Chart
Simplifying



This is cubic equation in f
2
which can be solved using
mathematical algorithm. Then the sag is:
( ) l
E
f f
l
f A
l w
l
f A
l w
l
|
.
|

\
|

+ + = +
2 1
1 2
2
1
2
3
2
1
2
2
2
3
2
2
6 6
o u u
( )
|
|
.
|

\
|
+ + = E
f A
E l w
f f f
A
E l w
o u u
1 2
2
1
2
2
2
1
1 2
2
2
2
2
2
2
6
6
2
2
2
2
2 f A
l w
d =
Stringing Chart
S
a
g

T
e
n
s
i
o
n

Temperature
Sag Template
It is plot of curve used for locating the tower positions.









Nowadays, this is done using sophisticated software programs, which
take input such as cost of tower, foundation requirements, soil quality,
etc.
Ruling or Equivalent Span
There are several situations span length is not same.
Therefore, tension in each span will be different.
This is not possible in case of suspension type insulator,
because it will swing to equalize the tension.
Therefore, the uniform tension in each span is calculated by
defining the equivalent span (or ruling span).



L
e
is the equivalent or ruling span
L
i
is the each individual span in line
n
n
e
L L L L
L L L L
L
+ + + +
+ + + +
=

3 2
3 3
2
3
2
3
1
1
Ruling or Equivalent Span
Also approximate ruling span is:


L
avg
is the average span in line
L
max
is the maximum span in line

The ruling span is then used to calculate the horizontal component of
tension, which is to be applied to all the spans between the anchor
points. Then the sag at each span is computed using


Span should not be more than twice the ruling span or less than half
the ruling span.


( )
avg avg e
L L L L + + =
max
3
2
H
l w
d
i
i
2
2
=
Conductor Vibrations
In addition to Horizontal swing due to wind pressure,
there are two types of vertical vibrations:
Aeolian or resonant vibrations
It is caused by vortex phenomena in light winds.
Low magnitude (up to 5 cm) and high frequency (5-40 Hz)
Less harmful because of small magnitude
These vibrations are common in conductor and more or less always
present.
The Armour rods or dampers are used to damp these vibrations.

Armour rods
Stock-bridge dampers
Conductor Vibrations
Galloping (or dancing conductors)
Generally happened due to asymmetrical layer of ice formation.
When this asymmetrical ice coated conductor exposed to light winds
(particularly when the slope of ground is higher).
High magnitude (up to 6 m) and low frequency (0.25-2 Hz).
These vibration may cause flashover between the conductors.
To avoid this flashover horizontal configuration is preferred.
Also if conductor is perfectly circular the effect can be minimized.
The stranded conductors can be wrapped up with PVC to make
conductor perfectly circular.

Overview of Next Class
Types of Insulators
String Efficiency
Methods to improve string efficiency