Frequency Domain Analysis of Alongwind Response and Study of Wind Loads for Transmission Tower Subjected to Downbursts

Abstract

Downburst is one of the high‐intensity winds that cause transmission tower failures. The regulations of transmission tower‐line systems under downburst wind loads cannot meet the design requirements at present. In this paper, the calculation formulas of the background and resonant components of transmission tower under downburst wind loads are obtained, based on the modal analysis theory of non‐stationary wind for the single‐degree‐of‐freedom system in the frequency domain. The effects of structural dynamic characteristics, damping ratio, and mean wind speed vertical profile on dynamic effect on structural response are discussed. Then the equivalent static wind load (ESWL) is obtained according to the maximum response and compared with the finite element method (FEM) in the time domain. Applications of these formulas are addressed to the cases from the empirical model of Holmes and field record of a rear flank downdraft (RFD). The results show that the maximum responses obtained by the current formulas match well with those from the modal decomposition method and dynamic analysis with FEM. The internal forces of tower mem-bers calculated by ESWL based on maximum response are closer to the results from FEM than those calculated by downburst loads recommended in ASCE guidelines. The presented framework can be used to assist the wind‐resistant design of transmission towers considering downburst wind load.