Effect of Bolt Slip on Tower Deformation
Publication: Practice Periodical on Structural Design and Construction
Volume 17, Issue 2
Abstract
The analytical deformation of a transmission line (TL) tower computed using software is less than the test deformation. A TL tower consists of many splice joints in the leg member. A small rotation owing to bolt slip in the joint may cause additional deformation in the tower, which is difficult to predict and cannot be accounted for in the analysis. Experimental studies are conducted on variation of bolt force with the applied torque and on bolt slip in butt-jointed specimens and the load at which it occurs. The actual behavior of the joints is studied on seven towers recently tested at the Tower Testing and Research Station of the Structural Engineering Research Centre, a national laboratory under the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, Government of India. The bolt slip occurs when the axial force in the leg member exceeds the clamping force at that particular joint. On the basis of the studies conducted, a factor that gives the relationship between experimental and theoretical deformation is suggested to modify the analytical deformation. Rotations of 0.057° at stub level and 0.034° at intermediate levels for TL towers with double-cover butt joints and 0.125° at all levels for towers with single-cover butt joints are suggested for computing the actual deformation. The proposed factor is useful in estimating the exact deformation of a communication tower and can also be used as a predictor for monitoring the tower deformations during testing.
Get full access to this article
View all available purchase options and get full access to this article.
References
ASCE. (2000). “Design of latticed steel transmission structures.” ASCE 10-97, Reston, VA.
Bureau of Indian Standards. (1978). “Code of practice for use of structural steel in over head transmission line towers: Testing.” IS:802 Part III, New Delhi, India.
Bureau of Indian Standards. (2007). “Code of practice for general construction in steel.” IS:800, New Delhi, India.
European Convention for Constructional Steelwork (ECCS) Technical Committee 10, Bolted and Welded Connections. (1985). European recommendations for bolted connections: In structural steel work, ECCS, Brussels, Belgium.
International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC). (2002). “Loading tests on overhead lines structures.” IEC 60 652, Geneva.
Ju, S. H., Fan, C. Y., and Wu, G. H. (2004). “Three dimensional finite element analysis of steel bolted connections.” Eng. Struct.ENSTDF, 26(3), 403–413.
Kitipornchai, S., Al-Bermani, F. G.A., and Peyrot, A. H. (1994). “Effect of bolt slippage on the ultimate behavior of lattice structures.” J. Struct. Eng.JSENDH, 120(8), 2281–2287.
Murthy, S. S., and Santhakumar, A. R., (1990). Transmission line structures, McGraw Hill, Singapore.
Prasad Rao, N., Knight, G. M. S., Lakshmanan, N., and Iyer, N. R. (2010). “Investigation of transmission line tower failures.” Int. J. Eng. Failure Anal., 17(5), 1127–1141.
Prasad Rao, N., Mohan, S. J., and Lakshmanan, N. (2004). “A semi empirical approach for estimating displacements and fundamental frequency of transmission line towers.” Int. J. Struct. Stab. Dyn., 4(2), 181–195.
Ungkurapinan, N., Chandrakeerthy, S.R.De.S., Rajapakse, R. K.N.D., and Yue, S. B. (2003). “Joint slip in steel electric transmission towers.” Eng. Struct.ENSTDF, 25(6), 779–788.
Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Practice Periodical on Structural Design and Construction
Volume 17 • Issue 2 • May 2012
Pages: 65 - 73
Copyright
© 2012. American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Sep 24, 2010
Accepted: Jul 20, 2011
Published online: Jul 22, 2011
Published in print: May 1, 2012
Authors
Metrics & Citations
Metrics
Citations
Download citation
If you have the appropriate software installed, you can download article citation data to the citation manager of your choice. Simply select your manager software from the list below and click Download.