Effects of Additional Diaphragms on the Wind-Resistant Performance of Power Transmission Tower

By field investigation, it is found that the lower section of transmission tower body is the critical position for insuring tower’s integral stability under strong wind. For improving tower’s wind-resistant performance, the scheme of adding diaphragms at mid-height of diagonal members in lower tower body was proposed and its static effectiveness was researched by static loading tests. Taking the tower-line system into consideration, this paper explores the scheme’s dynamic effectiveness by wind tunnel test and numerical simulation. Two types of tower model are involved in the wind tunnel test: one is with additional diaphragms at lower panels of tower body, the other is without. Test results indicate additional diaphragms can not only promote tower’s windresistant capacity but also change its dynamic failure mode. Based on ABAQUS platform, numerical calculation shows diaphragms can effectively weaken and change tower’s local vibration. For balancing steel dosage, an upgrade scheme for adding diaphragms is introduced. Numerical results indicate the new scheme achieves the unity of low steel consumption, well-controlled local vibration and unaltered stress level for adjacent members.