In-event surrogate model training for regional transmission tower-line system dynamic responses prediction in realistic hurricane wind fields

Abstract

Surrogate models have shown improved accuracy in predicting infrastructure responses during dynamic loadings. However, training a surrogate model for complex loading inputs across the entire hazard region remains challenging. This study provides insight into the training of surrogate models to estimate the responses of transmission tower-line structures in a coupled high-dimensional and high-resolution wind field and presents innovative methods for addressing these challenges. Four data- and physics-based spatial-temporal decoupling sampling methods are employed and cross-compared to obtain the most representative in-event wind profiles for training the surrogate model. Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM) is utilised as the surrogate model framework to predict the dynamic responses of the structure during the 2017 Hurricane Harvey. The accuracy and robustness of two transmission tower-line structure configuration surrogate models are validated by comparing the predictions with finite element analyses by using randomly distributed temporal and geospatial wind profiles throughout the hurricane. Finally, a single LSTM surrogate model is developed, trained by applying the full reference wind speed range of Hurricane Harvey for the regional-scale structural performance evaluation of the transmission tower-line system. The results demonstrate that the proposed surrogate model training methodology is general and can be applied to regional-scale structural performance evaluations.