The Structure Optimization and Analysis of the Power Transmission Towers

Abstract

As transmission towers support transmission lines used to transmit the electric load to the farther areas, any structural failure of towers can cause alarming situation. Therefore, there is a need to increase the structural strength of these towers; one such method is through the reliable design of towers. The purpose to conduct this research is to compare the static strength of two 3-D transmission towers of different designs. In first tower, load distribution is preferred vertically while in second tower, it is preferred horizontally. These towers have 221 and 282 nodes and consist of 519 and 735 elements respectively. Material features and element dimensions are same as the purpose here is to compare only the strength of towers of different designs. These nodes and elements are modeled in Ansys APDL software. On applying the same force, deformation can be compared. Transmission tower #1 has a less deformation of 0.374778 mm along the y-direction while the transmission tower #2 has more deformation that is 1.402760 mm. The deformation in first tower is less; it has a compact size; it is easy to design, and less material is used in the fabrication of this tower. It is concluded that the first transmission tower can bear the same load with less deformation. Therefore, it is an attractive and suitable choice while selecting the design of transmission tower.