Numerical analysis and full‐scale experiment on K‐joint deformations in the crank arms of lattice transmission towers

Abstract

SummaryAfter completion of the construction process including wire stringing of 1,000 kV ultrahigh voltage (UHV) cat‐head electric transmission towers, the outward horizontal K‐joint deformation of one side crank arm may usually exceed 70 mm. Joint slip effects were ignored in the initial structural design of transmission towers, which induced that the calculated K‐joint displacements are much lower and the real deformation cannot meet with the requirement of the acceptant code. First, the shortcomings of the traditional unit load method used to calculate the displacements of transmission towers connected by bolt joints were analyzed. Second, a coefficient for describing the axial force state of bolted joints was proposed. The connection numbers for different types of members in the crank arms of a UHV cat‐head transmission tower were determined. The traditional unit load method was enhanced by importing the force state coefficient and specifying the detailed connection numbers. The K‐joint displacements calculated by the enhanced formula were compared with the experimental results by full‐scale tower experiment. It shows that the enhanced unit load method is suitable for calculating K‐joint deformations in the crank arms of UHV cat‐head transmission towers. Lastly, contribution weight coefficients of different members for K‐joint displacements of the UHV cat‐head transmission tower were calculated by the enhanced unit load method. For bolt joints connected with the tower members with high contribution weight coefficients, the manufacturing accuracy of bolt holes should be improved, and the bolt clearance should be decreased, which can significantly reduce the K‐joint deformation of UHV cat‐head transmission towers.