International Conference on Applications of Statistics and Probability in Civil Engineering (ICASP) (12th : 2015)

Vulnerability analysis of transmission towers subjected to unbalanced ice loads Rezaei, S. Nasim; Chouinard, Luc; Legeron, Frederic; Langlois, Sebastien

Abstract

This paper presents a probabilistic framework for vulnerability analysis of electric transmission towers subjected to unbalanced ice loads using the concepts of statistical learning theory (SLT). Based on SLT, the implicit limit state function of each element is replaced by an approximate polynomial function that has good prediction properties. The results are presented in the form of fragility curves for 3 different unbalanced loading scenarios of longitudinal, transverse and torsional loadings. Such fragility information provides us with a better understanding of the behavior of various components of the line under different climatic conditions. It can also be used to evaluate existing transmission towers and to optimize the design of new ones. This paper further studies the effect of various design parameters such as wind speed and direction, icing rate and location of ice formation on the fragility curves of tension and suspension towers. The results show higher failure probabilities for suspension towers than tension towers. The results also indicate that for most conditions, longitudinal loads are more important than other unbalanced loading scenarios. Finally, this study concludes that wind speed, wind direction and ice accumulation rate have notable effects on the fragility curves.

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