Abstract
Nowadays, pultruded glass fiber-reinforced polymer composite (PGFRPC) structures have been used widely for cross-arms in high transmission towers. These composite structures have replaced cross-arms of conventional materials like wood due to several factors, such as better strength, superior resistance to environmental degradation, reduced weight, and comparatively cheaper maintenance. However, lately, several performance failures have been found on existing cross-arm members, caused by moisture, temperature changes in the atmosphere, and other environmental factors, which may lead to a complete failure or reduced service life. As a potential solution for this problem, enhancing PGFRPC with honeycomb-filled composite structures will become a possible alternative that can sustain a longer service life compared to that of existing cross-arms. This is due to the new composite structures’ superior performance under mechanical duress in providing better stiffness, excellence in flexural characteristics, good energy absorption, and increased load-carrying capacity. Although there has been a lack of previous research done on the enhancement of existing composite cross-arms in applications for high transmission towers, several studies on the enhancement of hollow beams and tubes have been done. This paper provides a state-of-the-art review study on the mechanical efficiency of both PGFRPC structures and honeycomb-filled composite sandwich structures in experimental and analytical terms.
Highlights
When power transmission lines were first introduced in Malaysia, wooden cross-arms were used on transmission towers [1]
The pultruded glass fiber-reinforced polymer composite (PGFRPC) cross-arms were installed on the top, middle, and bottom phases of selected towers as the first pilot project in Malaysia [7,8]
The pultruded manufacturing method of PGFRPC was chosen because composite structures were mass produced and exhibited excellent characteristics compared to wooden cross-arms [9,10,11]
Summary
When power transmission lines were first introduced in Malaysia, wooden cross-arms were used on transmission towers [1]. In the field of construction, sleeve installations are widely used to join and strengthen the connection between beams and columns or other connections due to their good performance [13,14] Another method of improvement done by previous researchers was by installing bracing on cross-arm members. Since cross-arm structures obey the principle of the cantilever beam structure, several mechanical behaviors on honeycomb-filled structures need to be analyzed, such as loadcarrying capacity, flexural, creep, and failure mood behavior. All these studies should be conducted to suggest possible material changes in the structural design of the cross-arm system, for the purpose of limiting or preventing failures. The potential of using new filling structures in this scope will be studied in this work
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