Seismic mitigation of substation cable connected equipment using friction pendulum systems

Power transmission substations are susceptible to potential damage under seismic excitations. Two of the major seismic failure modes in substation supplies are: the breakage of brittle insulator, and conductor end fittings. This paper presents efficient isolation strategies for seismically strengthening of a two-item set of equipment including capacitive voltage transformer (CVT) adjacent to a Lightning Arrester (LA). Two different strategies are proposed, Case A: implementation of base isolation at the base of the CVT, while the LA is kept fixed-base, and Case B: implementation of base isolation at the base of the LA, while the CVT is kept fixed-base. Both CVT and LA are connected to each other using a cable during the dynamic excitation. The probabilistic seismic behavior is measured by Incremental Dynamic Analysis (IDA), and a series of appropriate damage states are proposed. Finally, the fragility curves are derived for both the systems. It is found that Friction Pendulum System (FPS) isolator has the potential of decreasing flexural stresses caused by intense ground motions. The research has shown that when the FPS is placed under LA, i.e. Case B (as oppose to Case A), the efficiency of the system is improved in terms of reducing the forces and stresses at the bottom of the porcelain. Several parametric studies are also performed to determine the optimum physical properties of the FPS.