Seismic response study of a steel lattice transmission tower considering the hysteresis characteristics of bolt joint slippage

Abstract

Ignorance of the influences of bolt slippage effects on transmission towers will lead to the underestimation of the deformations of the transmission towers. Therefore, the responses of transmission towers under different load scenarios cannot be accurately predicted. This will result in an incorrect estimation of the ultimate load-bearing capacity and the failure mode of transmission towers. Recently, studies of the influences of bolt slippage effects on transmission towers have been limited to static analysis only. This paper presents a dynamic response study of transmission towers considering bolt slippage. This paper first presents the test results of the mechanical properties of typical bolt joints in transmission towers under cyclic and monotonic loads. The numerical models of typical joints and the hysteresis curves of each joint under cyclic loads are then proposed, and the numerical models of hysteresis curves are validated through laboratory tests. From the various simulation results on the different types of joints, the hysteretic curves of each joint are obtained, and the skeleton curves are extracted. The numerical models of the slippage effect of transmission tower joints are then integrated into the tower–line system model for seismic analysis. The numerical simulation results indicate that neglecting the dynamic effect of bolt slippage will underestimate the seismic response of transmission towers, which will directly lead to an overestimation of the dynamic resistance capacity of the transmission towers. Furthermore, the higher the earthquake magnitude is, the more serious the influence.