The Effects of Ice Shedding on a 500 kV Line

Ice shedding and the subsequent conductor jump have been of interest to transmission and distribution designers since the early 1900's. Some of the factors that affect the height of the jump and the transverse movement of the conductor are ice thickness, ice density, phase to phase and span to span patterns of ice loading, the pattern of ice shedding within the span, the wind speed, conductor size and stranding, line angle, structure type, span, and elevation differences between supports. This paper reports the results of finite element dynamic modeling of ice shedding from a 500 kV single circuit tubular steel transmission line. Ten spans of line were modeled including all three phases and two shield wires. The structures and insulators and shield wire hardware were also modeled. All simulations were performed using the commercial finite element program ADINA.