Seismic Response of High Voltage Electrical Transformer–Bushing Systems
Publication: Journal of Structural Engineering
Volume 132, Issue 2
Abstract
High voltage porcelain bushings mounted on transformers have shown vulnerability during past earthquakes. This is contrary to the generally good performance observed during shake table qualification testing of bushings anchored to a rigid base. The seismic vulnerability of porcelain bushings might be caused by the flexibility of transformer tanks and of bushing attachments. Current seismic qualification guidelines consider an amplification factor of 2.0 between the amplitude of the ground motion and the amplitude of the motion at the base of the bushing. This paper investigates numerically the dynamic response of porcelain bushings mounted on transformer tanks. The results of the numerical study show that large amplification occurs when the fundamental frequency of the porcelain bushing is tuned with the fundamental frequency of the transformer tank.
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Acknowledgments
The research project described in this paper was sponsored by the Pacific Earthquake Engineering Research Center’s Program of Applied Earthquake Engineering Research of Lifeline Systems supported by the California Energy Commission, California Department of Transportation, and the Pacific Gas & Electric Company. This work made use of Earthquake Engineering Research Centers Shared Facilities supported by the National Science Foundation under Award No. NSFEEC-9701568. The writers greatly appreciated the input and coordination provided by Dr. Michael Riemer from PEER and Mr. Eric Fujisaki from the Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) during the development of this research project. The support of Mr. David Chambers from the California Energy Commission is also gratefully acknowledged. Special thanks must be also given to Mr. Bill Gundy for supplying two of the original transformer models, as well as Mr. Rulon Fronk, Dr. Anshel Schiff, and Mr. Chris Stearns for their individual contributions to the research task.
References
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Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Structural Engineering
Volume 132 • Issue 2 • February 2006
Pages: 287 - 295
Copyright
© 2006 ASCE.
History
Received: Jul 16, 2004
Accepted: May 10, 2005
Published online: Feb 1, 2006
Published in print: Feb 2006
Notes
Note. Associate Editor: Vinay Kumar Gupta
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