Modeling and Analysis of Progressive Ice Shedding along a Transmission Line during Thermal De-Icing

Progressive ice shedding (PIS) along transmission lines is a common type of ice shedding during thermal de-icing that requires investigation to ensure the security of transmission lines. In current research, PIS is commonly analyzed using a constant speed for ice detaching from the conductor, which is not accurate for PIS simulation. Therefore, a mechanical model of PIS is established in this study to analyze PIS during thermal de-icing. First, an ice detachment model during thermal de-icing is built to determine the detachment times of the initial ice and remaining ice. Then, a two-node isoparametric truss element is employed to derive the static and dynamic equilibrium equations of an iced conductor to simulate the dynamic response of PIS. Relative to commercial software, these equations can easily accommodate the changing mass of ice with the flow of melted water. The dynamic equilibrium equations are then solved using the ice detachment model to obtain the dynamic response of PIS. Finally, small-scale and full-scale experimental results are employed to verify the proposed method. The simulation results show that the results of the proposed method are more consistent with the experimental results than are the results of existing methods that assume a constant propagation speed. The proposed method can be further applied to optimize transmission line designs and evaluate the application of thermal de-icing devices.