Finite element modeling and assessment of seismic response of electrical substations porcelain post insulators: Fid-Bau Portal

Finite element modeling and assessment of seismic response of electrical substations porcelain post insulators

Moustafa, Mohamed A. / Mosalam, Khalid M.

Abstract The study presented in this paper focused on developing accurate computational finite element (FE) model of electrical substations ceramic (porcelain) post insulators. The objective is to investigate the structural behavior and seismic response of these critical equipment through detailed numerical simulations that can replace or minimize experimental qualification tests and optimize future design of electrical equipment. Detailed three-dimensional solid FE modeling was used to capture the complex geometry of post insulators and the brittle nature of ceramics. Dedicated material characterization tests were utilized to define the porcelain nonlinear material model parameters. The developed model was verified using previously conducted experiments and used to perform linear and nonlinear static and dynamic analyses. A sensitivity parametric study was conducted first to calibrate the model and rank the sources of uncertainties in porcelain insulator modeling using the so-called tornado diagram analysis. The calibrated model was further utilized to carry out nonlinear time history analysis under earthquake excitation and capture the dynamic mode of failure, which is not always feasible to achieve using experimental tests. The study concluded with identification of which modeling parameters significantly affect the simulated structural behavior of post insulators, and compared the inelastic response at failure under static and dynamic loading.

Highlights • Developing 3D FE model for substations porcelain post insulators and calibrating it. • Investigating insulators static and dynamic structural response under lateral loading. • Calibrating porcelain nonlinear material model using dedicated material characterization tests. • Conducting sensitivity study to rank sources of uncertainties in modeling using tornado analysis. • Capturing and comparing post insulators response at failure under static and dynamic loading.