Resilience of Transmission Line Structures to Extreme Weather Events

输电线路结构对极端天气事件的抵御能力

• 批准号: RGPIN-2022-04693
• 负责人: ElDamatty, Ashraf
• 金额: $ 3.79万
• 依托单位: University of Western Ontario
• 依托单位国家: 加拿大
• 项目类别: Discovery Grants Program - Individual
• 财政年份: 2022
• 资助国家: 加拿大
• 起止时间: 2022-01-01 至 2023-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nserc-crsng.gc.ca/ase-oro/Details-Detailles_eng.asp?id=749042
• 关键词: Resilience; Transmission; Line; Structures; Extreme

The reliance of all infrastructure operation on electrical power has made electricity a vital component of modern life. Power disruptions during a hazard event can thus have devastating effects on safety, economic security, and public health. The proposed work will focus on the impact of extreme wind events on transmission line (TL) structures: the grid elements most vulnerable to wind hazards. In Canada and other countries, incidents involving the failure of those structures during extreme wind conditions are annual events, and the effects of climate change are exacerbating the frequency and intensity of their occurrence. The applicant's pioneer research led to the creation of the world's first specification that enables the effective design of new TL structures to resist tornadoes and downbursts (thunderstorm wind), which was incorporated into the 2020 American Society of Civil Engineers guidelines. However, the greatest challenge lies in assessing the structural behaviour of existing structures. The proposed work will involve developing and validating a state-of-the-art numerical model that will include the simultaneous simulation of the towers in a TL segment while considering the interaction that happens between the towers through the in-between conductors. The model will accurately predict the failure mode of a tower during a wind event, compute the dynamic forces induced on adjacent towers during the failure mechanism, simulate the collapse as it progresses from tower to tower, and forecast the extent of the cascading collapses. The model will incorporate synoptic dynamic wind loads determined from computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations of real conditions at the line area plus downburst and tornado loads. All components of this numerical model will be validated experimentally at the $30M WindEEE dome, the world's only three-dimensional wind chamber. This research will provide a breakthrough advance in knowledge related to TL structural behaviour under various types of extreme wind events and will produce highly beneficial tools for utility companies in particular and society in general. Upgrading an entire TL network is impossible. The developed tool will enable the most accurate assessment of the failure risk for individual network segments and will facilitate informed and cost-effective upgrade decisions based on the importance of the line, the level of redundancy, and the connectivity with other utilities. Since electricity forms the backbone of an urban system, the proposed studies represent a key milestone in achieving the applicant's long-term goal of creating tools for evaluating community resilience to weather-related hazards, taking into account the dependencies among infrastructure components. The studies will provide eight graduate students with training in state-of-the-art numerical and experimental techniques, while addressing a serious practical and pressing problem.

所有基础设施对电力的依赖使电力成为现代生活的重要组成部分。因此，在危险事件中的电源破坏会对安全，经济安全和公共卫生产生毁灭性影响。拟议的工作将集中于极风事件对传输线（TL）结构的影响：最容易受到风危害的网格元素。在加拿大和其他国家，涉及极端风条件下这些结构失败的事件是年度事件，气候变化的影响加剧了其发生的频率和强度。申请人的开拓者研究导致创建了世界上第一个规范，该规范使新的TL结构有效设计可抵抗龙卷风和爆炸（雷暴风），后者已纳入2020年美国土木工程师协会指南中。但是，最大的挑战在于评估现有结构的结构行为。拟议的工作将涉及开发和验证最先进的数值模型，该模型将包括TL段中塔的同时模拟，同时考虑塔之间通过导体中间的塔之间发生的相互作用。该模型将在风事件中准确预测塔的故障模式，计算故障机构期间在相邻塔上引起的动态力，并在其从塔到塔式发展时模拟崩溃，并预测级联崩溃的程度。该模型将结合来自线区域实际条件的计算流体动力学（CFD）模拟确定的天气动态风负载，以及下降爆炸和龙卷风负载。该数值模型的所有组件将以3000万美元的Windeee Dome（全球唯一的三维风室）进行实验验证。这项研究将在各种极端风事件下与TL结构行为相关的知识提供突破性的进步，并将为公用事业公司和整个社会提供非常有益的工具。升级整个TL网络是不可能的。开发的工具将最准确地评估单个网络细分的故障风险，并根据行的重要性，冗余水平以及与其他公用事业的连接，促进知情且具有成本效益的升级决策。由于电力构成了城市系统的骨干，因此拟议的研究代表了实现申请人的长期目标，即在基础设施组成部分之间考虑了对与天气相关的危害的评估工具的长期目标。这些研究将为八名研究生提供最先进的数值和实验技术培训，同时解决严重的实用和紧迫问题。