Session: 08-07-02 Internal Flows & FIV II

Paper Number: 81503

81503 - Simulation of Wind Flow Around the Terrain of a High-Altitude Transmission Tower: A Case Study of Saurdal Accident 

The topography of the terrain plays a major effect on the galloping of the conductors in a transmission line, especially in complicated terrains. In the present work we try to introduce a relatively novel approach of studying the influence of terrain on the wind speed approaching the transmission lines. The study also tires to verify if computational fluid dynamics of the topography is an effective tool when considering new construction or reviewing the safety of the existing construction to minimize possible failure.

The CFD analysis was carried out on the failure case of Suldal, Norway 2012 was used. The necessary weather data (wind, temperature) and geographical location was obtained. First, the google earth was used to map the terrain and this data was then used to create a 3D CAD model, which was then imported to ANSYS simulation software to carry out CFD simulations with the original wind data on the day of failure.

The simulation results satisfactory showed that terrain topography had a significant impact on the wind flow field approaching the transmission power lines. There was an acceleration of around 1.5 to 1.7 times the wind data showed by the weather stations in the vicinity of the location of failure. The results of the study can be further used to understand how the wind acceleration due to the terrain topography would influence the galloping of the power lines and help in predicting the failure by galloping.  

Presenting Author: Nikhil Bagalkot Oslo Met

Authors:

Arvind Keprate Oslo Met
Nikhil Bagalkot Oslo Met
Mohammad Reza Shah Mohammadi DNV
Agnes Marie Horn DNV