IIT Gandhinagar comes up with framework to reduce power transmission systems damage during cyclones

They found out that the most efficient strategy could be to pick a fraction of towers from the highest wind speed zones (according to the Indian standards) that are associated with substations serving a large population.

IIT Gandhinagar comes up with framework to reduce power transmission systems damage during cyclones

A team of researchers at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Gandhinagar has come up with a comprehensive framework that can help reduce the damage to power transmission systems in coastal areas under cyclone scenarios. The IIT Gandhinagar team used damage-cum-wind speed data of Cyclone Fani in Odisha to develop a fragility model for towers, which helps assess the functionality of the network and the influence of strategic interventions on the same.

They found out that the most efficient strategy could be to pick a fraction of towers from the highest wind speed zones (according to the Indian standards) that are associated with substations serving a large population. If the towners nearest to the coast are strengthened that it may somewhat help to reduce the number of towers damaged during the cyclone, but its resultant impact on the affected population may not be as significant.

The study results revealed that a greater number of reinforced towers or a greater level of strengthening in them based on tailor-made and efficient reinforcement prioritization strategies in a particular region leads to better functionality of power transmission systems. The research team also found that strengthening the towers in a transmission line associated with important substations (importance was quantified in terms of population served by the substation) close to the coastline led to maximum enhancement in performance, meaning the lesser population is affected, they claimed.

"This is a first of its kind research work because here we were able to consider a large-scale network, its relationship with the coastline, a suitable context-specific fragility curve for the towers, and realistic cyclone scenarios in a reasonable manner, which led to interesting insights into strengthening strategies for the power transmission network of Odisha. The framework can be useful for cost-effective strengthening of transmission tower networks of other coastal states of India as well, such as West Bengal, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Gujarat, and Maharashtra," said, Manish Kumar, Associate Professor at IIT Gandhinagar.

"The towers can be prioritised differently if a different performance metric is selected. Structural strengthening that would lead to the shift in the fragility curves considered in this study can be based on wind-tunnel tests and/or computational fluid dynamics analyses, which will further optimise the resources. This approach may also be relevant for transmission lines associated with some power plants that may require a shutdown in the event of damage to the lines," he added.

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