Cyclic performance of reinforced legs in retrofitted transmission towers
Files
Date
2018
Authors
Lu, C.
Ma, X.
Mills, J.
Editors
Advisors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Type:
Journal article
Citation
Archives of Civil and Mechanical Engineering, 2018; 18(4):1608-1625
Statement of Responsibility
Conference Name
Abstract
In Australia, thousands of ageing steel transmission towers are facing the needs of upgrade in order to meet the demands of additional communication devices and the increased wind loads according to newly revised design standard. One effective retrofitting approach is to attach a reinforcing member to the original member through a bolted cruciform connector. This paper addresses the structural behaviour of retrofitted tower leg members under cyclic loading conditions. A series of experimental tests and FEM modelling were conducted. The experimental results and numerical models show that the bolt pretension continuously decreases with the increasing loading cycles and magnitudes, which further reduces the bolt-slip load in cruciform connectors. The bolt-slip phenomenon changes the load-sharing rate between original members and reinforcing members in retrofitted legs. The cyclic loading procedure reduces the structural stiffness of retrofitted leg members due to the surface smoothing and bolt pretension loss. A further parametric study shows an obvious reduction in load-carrying capacity of retrofitted leg segments under long-term cyclic loading period. In addition, retrofitted segments with splice connectors in original members are more sensitive to loading cycle numbers.
School/Discipline
Dissertation Note
Provenance
Description
Access Status
Rights
Copyright 2018 Elsevier
Access Condition Notes: Accepted manuscript available after 1 October 2019