EVALUATING THERMAL AGING CHARACTERISTICS

OF ELECTRIC POWER TRANSMISSION LINES

Md. Mafijul Islam Bhuiyan, Petr Musilek, Jana Heckenbergerova, Don Koval
Department of Electrical and Computer engineering, University of Alberta
ABSTRACT The load current is subsequently varied to examine the impact of
Assessment of aging characteristics of conductors and other thermal overload on conductor aging.
components of power transmission networks plays an important The paper is organized in five sections. Section 2 provides
role in asset management systems. Due to adverse effects of background information on conductor thermal state, and aging
conductor aging caused by annealing, the conductors lose their behavior. The proposed methodology is introduced in section 3.
tensile strength. Although the loss of strength is gradual, it A case study involving a sample transmission line is presented and
accumulates over time and increases the probability of outages and analyzed in section 4. The last section provides major conclusions
blackouts. Therefore, the most important factor affecting the and indicates directions of future work.
strength of transmission conductors is the operating temperature of
2. BACKGROUND
the line. For this reason, it is important to keep track of conductor
temperatures over time, in order to identify segments of power
In order to evaluate aging of an overhead conductor, it is necessary
transmission network that may require more close attention, and
to calculate the thermal load of the conductor and then determine
possibly repairs.
how much aging had occurred over the period of interest (e.g. the
This paper describes and illustrates a new methodology for
lifetime of the conductor).
estimating conductor thermal aging using load information and
weather conditions derived from historical weather reanalysis, and 2.1. Calculation of conductor thermal load
interpolated to locations of power transmission lines. Conductor Operating temperature of a line can be calculated from a known
temperature is first determined using IEEE 738 standard, and then current flowing through the conductor [12], using a procedure
used to estimate loss of tensile strength in a conductor. The process outlined in IEEE Standard 738 [6]. For steady-state conditions, the
is illustrated for a single location of a sample transmission line, heat balance equation takes the form
using assumed load current and historical weather information
spanning a period of five years. The simulation results show that ‫ݍ‬௖ ൅ ‫ݍ‬௥ ൌ ‫ݍ‬௦ ൅ ‫ ܫ‬ଶ ܴሺܶ௖ ሻ, (1)
the proposed approach provides information vital for transmission where qc is the heat lost into the environment due to convection,
asset management and transmission network operating procedures. and qr due to radiation, qs the heat gained from solar radiation, and
term ‫ ܫ‬ଶ ܴሺܶ௖ ሻ represents the Joule heating of the conductor. To
Keywords: Aging, Annealing, ACSR conductor, Weather evaluate all terms in equation (1), a number of variables must be
conditions, Transmission line.
used that describe the conductor material, environment, and
1. INTRODUCTION ambient weather conditions [6].
2.2. Conductor aging behavior
Electric power transmission networks are complex systems that are
Conductor aging is an inevitable process affecting all components
often run near their operational limits 0. Annealing due to
of power transmission systems. Unanticipated or premature aging
excessive line temperature is one of the most significant causes of
of transmission line conductors can lead to unavailability of
conductor aging, which can cause critical equipment of the
equipment [2]. Annealing due to high temperatures, is one of the
networks to fail permanently. Consequently, the maximum
main reasons for permanent damage of aluminum strands in ACSR
operating temperature is a crucial factor for assessing loss of
conductors. Therefore, high operating temperatures are the primary
strength of power transmission lines due to annealing [4].
concern for this type of thermal aging, since heat relaxes the
In this paper, a new methodology for evaluating the thermal
strands, and the conductor elongates and loses strength leading to
aging characteristics of transmission lines is introduced, and the
safety concerns and operating problems. Aluminum annealing
loss of tensile strength due to annealing is analyzed for a sample
begins at 100°C, and it becomes drastic above 200°C [5].
bulk transmission line. The described study assumes nominal
The loss of tensile strength is caused by recrystallization
constant load current, and calculates the conductor temperature
process in aluminum strands. During this process, new strain-free
using actual weather conditions derived from historical records.
grains of metal replace the old deformed grains which occur during

978-1-4244-5377-1/10/$26.00 ©2010 IEEE

the nucleation process. As a result, the hardness of the metal  load data (current and historical records or estimates based on
gained by the cold work is gradually consumed by the movement typical load profiles); and
of the large scale grain boundaries [11]. The consequence of the  weather information (current and historical records of
whole process is softening, and the loss of tensile strength. temperature, wind velocity, solar radiation, etc.).
The methodology for estimating conductor aging involves the
2.2.1. Loss of tensile strength
following five steps:
The loss of tensile strength of an aluminum conductor [5] depends
1. Determination of time series of conductor temperatures using
on several parameters
measured or assumed load data and interpolated weather
భǤల
‫ܮ‬஺௟ ൌ ͳͲͲ െ ݇ ȉ ‫ି ݐ‬బǤలయȉ೏ሺ଴Ǥ଴଴ଵȉ்೎ ି଴Ǥ଴ଽହሻ , (2) records;
2. Analysis of the time series to find occurrence, severity, and
where, ‫ܮ‬஺௟ is the percentage of loss of strength, d is the strand exposure time of thermal overload (e.g. by constructing a
diameter [mm], t is the exposure time [hrs], ܶ௖ is the conductor frequency histogram);
temperature [°C], and k = (-0.24·ܶ௖ + 135). 3. Selection of a number of class intervals in the range of
This empirical equation can be used to create a family of overload temperatures found in step 2, and determination of
annealing curves for discrete values of temperature. By quantizing annealing curves for temperature representing the selected
the actual line temperatures into ranges corresponding to the intervals;
curves, cumulative aging over a specified time period can be 4. Determination of cumulative loss of tensile strength due to
determined using a graphical method described in [8] and further annealing by combining contributions from all class intervals
illustrated in section 4 of this paper. from step 3, taking into account exposure time determined in
Loss of strength determined this way is valid only for a single
step 2.
aluminum strand. The total loss of tensile strength in an ACSR
5. Determination of combined loss of tensile strength for a
conductor can be computed using a procedure described in [7]
compound conductor, taking into account dimension and
which takes into account its composition.
configurations of its components.

4. CASE STUDY

To illustrate the use of the proposed methodology, a sample power

transmission line has been selected from the Province of British
Columbia, Canada. The north end of line 5L011 starts near Prince
George and runs 330 km south to Pavilion Clinton road. There are
861 transmission towers from the beginning to the end of the line.
Fig. 1. Change of conductor emissivity over time The tower selected for illustration is located at the south end of the
line (latitude -121.7°, longitude 51.0°). The conductor is assumed
2.2.2. Emissivity of conductor surface to be the ACSR conductor “Finch” with the aluminum strand
An important parameter affecting how much heat is gained/lost by diameter of 3.65mm and the nominal current of 1110 A [3].
a conductor is emissivity of its surface. Emissivity is changing over
time according to the following empirical equation [9]

ߝ ൌ ͲǤʹ͵ ൅ ͲǤ͹ ‫ܻ כ‬ȀሺͳǤʹʹ ൅ ܻሻ, (3)

where ߝ is the coefficient of emissivity, and Y is the number of

years the conductor has been energized. A typical value of
emissivity of a new conductor is ߝ=0.23 [6]. At the end of the five
year period considered in this study, the coefficient attains a value
of ߝ=0.793, as illustrated in Figure 1.
Fig. 2. Temperature frequency histogram for nominal current
3. PROPOSED METHODOLOGY over a five year period

Weather data along the power transmission line has been

The proposed methodology for evaluating thermal aging
derived from the North American Regional Reanalysis (NARR)
characteristics of power transmission lines depends on the
historical dataset [10], and spans a five year period from 01/2000
following information about the lines and their environment:
to 12/2004. NARR data, provided on a regular grid of 32×32km,
 physical characteristics of the line (type and size of the
has been interpolated to the location mentioned above.
conductors, and their location and height above ground);
Meteorological variables used for calculating the conductor
temperature include horizontal wind speed and direction,
temperature, atmospheric pressure, specific humidity, and short- the final point on the vertical axis provides the percentage of total
and long-wave radiation [12]. tensile strength loss in the strand, in this case 4.79%. The same
procedure is applied for the remaining two load currents in Figures
6 and 7. Since an ACSR “Finch” conductor has a steel core, the
overall loss of tensile is substantially reduced, as explained in
section 2.2.1. The ACSR “Finch” conductor considered in this
study has 54 aluminum strands and a steal core of 19 strands. The
loss of tensile strength of individual aluminum strands and the total
loss of strength of the compound ACSR conductor are summarized
in Table 2. 

Fig.3. Temperature distribution for different load currents

over a five year period

Methodology described in section 3 has been applied using the

weather data, and assumed constant loads of 1110A (nominal),
1221A (10% above nominal), 1332A (20% above nominal), and
1443A (30% above nominal). Although constant load current does
not represent typical operating conditions, it provides an insight
into general aging characteristics of transmission lines. In practice,
a) 1221A (10% above nominal current)
actual load conditions would be used to assess the characteristics
of a particular line. Figure 2 shows a frequency histogram of
conductor temperatures for a period of five years for the nominal
current, while Figure 3 shows the comparison among the
distributions of line temperatures for the nominal and higher loads.
It can be seen that, with increasing current, the mode shifts towards
the higher temperatures and the tail becomes longer. The
histograms have been used to calculate the exposure times for
different annealing temperatures over the five year period. Detailed
histograms for thermal overload temperatures (above 100°C for
aluminum) are summarized in Table 1, and illustrated in Figure 4. b) 1332A (20% above nominal current)

Current 1221A Current 1332A Current 1443A

Temp Time Temp Time Temp Time
[°C] [hrs] [°C] [hrs] [°C] [hrs]
100 45 100 122 100 300
102 33 105 135 105 360
104 12 108 120 110 240
105 30 110 116 115 210
106 18 112 81 120 180
108 18 115 96 125 200
109 6 120 36 130 135
110 18 122 42 135 90
112 12 125 33 140 80
c) 1443A (30% above nominal current)
113 15 128 30 145 12
Fig.4. Histograms of temperatures above 100°C for three different
Table1: Exposure time according to the frequency of conductor values of current over a five year period (temperatures above
temperatures for three different currents over a five year period 100°C do not occur for the nominal current of 1100A)
Figures 5-7 illustrate the use of graphical method [8] for 5. CONCLUSIONS AND FUTURE WORK
calculating the total loss of tensile strength in aluminum strands.
For example, in Fig 5, the process starts by applying the exposure This paper introduces a new methodology for evaluating the
time (45 hours) to the first annealing curve for temperature of thermal aging characteristics of transmission lines. The
100°C. The following projection of horizontal line on the next methodology uses known characteristics of transmission
curve corresponds to equivalent heating time at the next conductors, along with load and weather data, to determine time
temperature (102°C). The exposure time at 102°C is then added to series of conductor temperatures. By analyzing the time series, loss
this intersecting point, and the process is continued until all of conductor tensile strength due to annealing can be estimated and
selected relevant temperatures have been considered. Projection of remaining conductor lifetime projected. This information can be
used for effective transmission asset management and for
scheduling line inspections, maintenance, or reconductoring. The Current [A] Loss of tensile strength
proposed methodology was illustrated using a case study analyzing Aluminum strands Compound conductor
the loss of tensile strength for a single tower of a bulk transmission 1221 4.79 (%) 2.644 (%)
line in interior of British Columbia, Canada. 1332 9.987 (%) 5.513 (%)
1443 15.613 (%) 8.62 (%)
Further extension of the current study will concentrate on
analysis of spatial distribution of thermal aging along the line to
Table 2: Loss of tensile strength in aluminum strands and
determine hot-spots within the transmission corridor. This
compound conductor (ACSR “Finch”) over a five year period
extension will provide more localized information necessary for
advanced asset management and targeted maintenance. A
sensitivity analysis will also be performed, to determine the REFERENCES
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AKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Conference EPEC'09, Montréal, Québec, Canada, October
This work has been supported by the Natural Sciences and 22-23, 2009
Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC), and British
Columbia Transmission Corporation (BCTC). The authors would
like to thank Mr. Pawel Pytlak for providing software libraries
implementing thermal calculations used to determine conductor
temperatures in this study.