CHAPTER-1 INTRODUCTION

1. INTRODUCTION

1.1 GENERAL

Energy is an important resource of any country. In the modern industrial era, there is an ever
increasing demand of electricity to attain economic growth and prosperity. To achieve it, addition
of new power generation plants and power infrastructure is required.

Transmission line networks are a key part of electric power infrastructure. The transmission line
consists of strings of conductors suspended on support structures (towers/poles). The reliability
of transmission line system requires that under any circumstances the conductors do not get
detached or broken. As the transmission lines stretch across thousands of kilometers of open
terrain and are directly exposed to the elements, in structural engineering perspective it is
imperative to have strong yet economical towers to bear the brunt of strong winds, snow and
earthquakes etc.

1.1.1 Evolution of Transmission lines

The power evacuation is made possible due to transmission lines spreading across thousands of
kilometers. To achieve longer distances, it was imperative to increase potential difference/
voltage commonly called stepping up.

The Power transmission lines started there evolution in 1888 when the first ever transmission
line voltage of mere 25 kV was laid between Lauffen and Frankfurt, Germany. Then a 110 kV
line was constructed from Lauchlammer to Riesa, Germany in 1912. In 1929, 220 kV line was
commissioned from Brauweiler to Frankfurt, Germany followed by a 380 kV line from
Romerskirchen to Ludwigsburg-Hohenech, Germany in 1957.

Next big leap came in 1967 when a Canadian company named Hydro Quebec introduced 735 kV
lines. The highest ever voltage of 1200 kV for transmission lines is in operation in Soviet Union
since 1982. Higher voltages are not recommended due to excessive power losses.

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1.1.2 Transmission Line System of Pakistan

Pakistan has significant size in terms of area 796,096 square kilometer and has a wide spread
population exceeding 18 billion. The current Power sector structure of Pakistan, as shown in
figure 1-1, consist of three tiers, Power generation, Transmission and Distribution. Water and
power development authority (WAPDA) operates hydro-power plants whereas thermal power
plants are run by public sector Generation Companies (GENCOS) and private sector companies
jointly termed as Independent Power Producers (IPPs). Transmission of Power from Power
plants to distribution network is the sole responsibility of National Power and Dispatch Company
(NTDC). The Power distribution system of Pakistan is managed by ten state owned companies
jointly termed as DISCOs and another privatized company called Karachi electric supply
company (KESC).

Figure 1-1 Power Sector Structure of Pakistan.

Pakistan is going through a severe electricity crisis. To improve this situation, new power
stations are being planned without discrimination whether they are hydro-electric, thermal, solar
or nuclear power projects, across the country. Mega hydroelectric projects such as Bhasha
Diamir HPP, Dasu HPP, Bunji HPP and Nelum Jehlum HPP are planned to be completed in next

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 CHAPTER-1 INTRODUCTION

fifteen years. Beside new Power Projects, this country is badly in need of an upgraded
transmission system which can efficiently and safely transmit electricity.

The transmission line network of Pakistan consists of 66 kV, 132 kV system maintained by
DISCOS. The existing network of NTDC consists of 220 kV and 500 kV line as shown in Figure
1-2. The NTDC operates and maintains Twelve (12 No.s) 500 kV grid stations and twenty nine
(29 No.s) 220 kV Grid Stations. The present NTDC power transmission line system consists of
5077 km of 500 kV transmission line and 7359 km of 220 KV transmission line.

Figure 1-2 Annual Investment in Generation and Transmission

The existing transmission system can merely support the current power production and bears
enormous electricity losses. To address this issue new grid stations and transmission lines are
being planned. All these programs and projects will incorporate a long network of transmission
towers spanning over hundreds of miles across the country. According to NTDC, National power
expansion plan (2011-2030), huge annual investments is required to increase the generation and
transmission capacity of Pakistan as shown in figure 1-2.

There are two types of structures used for power transmission in the country (1) Latticed Steel
Tower (2) Tubular Poles. The former is used in the open area or rural areas and the later in city
areas or where there is scarcity of available land. These towers lay under the preview of
structural engineering. It is evident that Latticed Steel Towers are mostly used. Lattice Steel

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 CHAPTER-1 INTRODUCTION

Tower is a 3D space truss. All over the world, continues research is going on in the field of
inelastic analysis of transmission line towers to assess the reliability of towers.

1.1.3 Parts and Types of Lattice Towers

A lattice tower consists of cross arms over the basic body which supports the conductors. Figure
1-3 elaborates typical parts of lattice transmission line tower. Leg extensions are provided to
level the tower in an uneven area. Ground wire is provided to safeguard against lightening.
Conventionally, the direction perpendicular to the run of the conductors is called as Transverse
direction and parallel to the run of conductors is termed as longitudinal direction. Lattice towers
have tapered shape legs ensuring varying slight angle along it height. The four main legs form
the outer boundary of the tower excluding the cross arms and are usually made of the heavier
angle sections. Primary bracing elements act as basic lateral load resisting frame work whereas
secondary bracing elements not intended for supporting loads rather they are provided to satisfy
the slenderness ratio and control the buckling of main elements.

Towers can be classified depending upon various factors. Depending upon the number of
circuits, towers are either single circuit tower (having three conductors, one on one side and two
on other) or double circuit tower (having three conductors on either sides).

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 CHAPTER-1 INTRODUCTION

Figure 1-3 Parts of lattice Transmission line Towers.

Tower structures can also be classified by the way in which they support the line conductors. A
tangent tower is used, where the conductors are straight and where a line must change direction,
Angle towers are provided. Depending upon specific locations some special towers are provide
such as River crossing location which require extra ordinarily high towers to bridge across the
river having extended span. Dead end tower are placed where the line ends. The permissible
angles of conductor with tower, their basic body heights and leg extensions of 220 kV towers are
tabulated in table 1-1.

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 CHAPTER-1 INTRODUCTION

Table 1-1 Types of 220 kV Towers

Sr. No Tower Type Angle Basic Body Height Leg Extensions

(m)

1. Tangent Tower 0-2o 22 2m, 4m, 6m, 12m

2. River Crossing Tower 0o 45 8m, 12m

3. Light Angle Tower 30o 20 2m, 4m, 6m, 12m

Heavy Angle/ Dead

4. 60o 20 2m, 4m, 6m, 12m
End Tower

1.2 PROBLEM STATEMENT

It is contemporary practice to design of transmission line tower on basis of elastic analysis

results in accordance with design standards like ASCE, IEC codes etc which extensively provide
the basic wind speed maps. Basic wind speed maps of developed countries like United State of
America and even our neighboring country India are available but unfortunately no such map has
been developed for Pakistan.

To assess the capacity of a tower, Full scale tests are carried out for the most critical tower
arrangement of transmission line but full scale testing such as shown in figure 1-4 is rarely done
in Pakistan.

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 CHAPTER-1 INTRODUCTION

Figure 1-4 Prototype Testing of Transmission line tower.

The elastic design approach is unable to predict the inelastic behavior of transmission line tower
(Lee and McClure 2007). Under severe wind loads, failure of towers was discussed in the
literature (Li 2000, Savory, et al. 2001). Figure 1-5 shows the collapsed transmission line tower
in Australia

Figure 1-5 A tower collapsed due to extreme wind.

1.3 OBJECTIVES

The objectives of this research work are as fallows;

1. To develop a methodology for (non-linear static and dynamic) analysis and evaluation of
capacity curves for transmission line towers subjected to wind loads in Pakistan.

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 CHAPTER-1 INTRODUCTION

2. Evaluation of capacity curves of power transmission line towers by applying the

nonlinear static and dynamic analysis method
3. To assess the integrity and reliability of existing tower design under wind loading using
numerical approach.

1.4 SCOPE OF RESEARCH

To accomplish the objectives of the research work a River Crossing Tower was selected which is
the highest tower in Pakistan. The tower members were modeled using two approaches. In first
approach, all the members were assigned fixed or rigid joints and in the other approach called
hereafter “Mixed Approach” having hinged ended bracing elements and fixed or rigid ends for
main legs. To incorporate material nonlinearity, hinges were assigned at ends of the member
only. The secondary bracing elements were neglected in modeling for simplicity and to reduce
the computational effort. Analysis was performed on both three-dimensional and two-
dimensional model for both NSPA and IDA. For NSPA, the lateral loads were calculated
according to three prevailing codes such as ASCE (1991), WAPDA/NTDC Specifications, ASCE
(2005) and ASCE (1991) with conductor broken condition. Also, lateral loads were calculated by
applying ASCE (1991) having velocity of wind according to two wind velocity profiles one
according to power law and other a high intensity wind phenomena called down burst or
microburst. The bilinear capacity curves conforming to FEMA-356 were plotted to assess the
capacity of the structure.

1.5 THESIS OVERVIEW

This research dissertation comprises of five chapters. In Chapter 1, introduction to the

transmission line infrastructure of Pakistan and its future requirements highlights the problem
statement, scope and objectives of this research. Chapter 2 is intended to elaborate basic concept
of elastic and inelastic analysis with the emphasis on the use of nonlinear static analysis
techniques subject to wind loading, in the light of studied literature.

The details regarding selected tower structure and its modeling are presented in Chapter 3. It also
explains the adopted methodology of NSPA and IDA methods, and the input load calculations for
analysis. Chapter 4 covers all the output results and tabulate comparison of both the nonlinear
analysis procedure results.
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 CHAPTER-1 INTRODUCTION

Chapter 5 is the final chapters that contains concluding remarks on the findings of this
comparative study and suggested recommendations for future research work. References and
Annexes are attached at the end.

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