WIND TUNNEL TESTING OF A MULTIPLE SPAN AEROELASTIC TRANSMISSION LINE SUBJECTED TO DOWNBURST WIND
A 1:50 scale aeroelastic wind tunnel test for a multi span transmission line system is conducted at the WindEEE dome under downburst wind. WindEEE is a novel three dimensional wind testing facility capable of simulating downbursts and tornadoes. This test simulates a transmission line consisting of v shaped guyed towers holding three conductor bundles. Details about the model design, the wind field and the test setup are provided. A downburst loading case that is critical for the line design and causes unbalanced tension load on the conductors is investigated in the current study. Resulting line responses obtained from the test are compared with a previously developed finite element model by the research group at the University of Western Ontario. The comparison shows a good agreement which validates the finite element models. Results obtained from this test will be very useful to understand the behavior of the lines under downburst wind.