Dynamic analysis of transmission tower-line systems: Impact of seismic and environmental loads

Electricity transmission systems are crucial for contemporary societies, as they facilitate the use of overhead power lines supported by transmission towers. Due to the prevailing belief that transmission line towers are not highly susceptible to earthquakes, seismic considerations have often been overlooked in their design and analysis. This study addresses this gap by evaluating the seismic performance of Transmission Line (TL) towers. The primary goals are to identify any potential failure modes or structural weaknesses for different conditions accounting for non-uniform span, cable breakage, and cable breakage along with some bracings broken that may compromise its safety and to provide practical recommendations for improving the seismic performance of such power transmission. This study analyses finite element model of a typical TL with recorded earthquake ground movements. A four-legged square transmission line tower, seismic zone five in India at the height of 21 m, was analyzed using finite element (FE) software.