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This research study reports a finite-element (FE) analysis undertaken to determine the strength and stability of a transmission tower constructed with a carbon-fibre-reinforced epoxy composite under different loading conditions. The loading conditions such as wind, weight of wires and self-weight of structures were calculated manually and applied in the FE model. Different loading conditions including the broken wire condition (BWC) were innovatively considered in this paper. The results showed that at the transmission tower, the components near to the base of the structure had much less  longitudinal stress. At different loading conditions, including BWC, the composite material was found to be competent. An innovative design approach incorporating stability analysis was found to be appropriate for determining the stability and structural safety of the tower.

Using of composite materials as lattice transmission tower structural material is increasing over conventional zinc galvanized steel materials because of some special features. Special attention should be paid regarding strength and stability of the transmission tower structure which are made with composite materials. In this present study, an effort has been made to analyze the strength and stability of transmission tower made with composite material, Carbon Fiber Epoxy (CFE). The transmission tower is modeled in STAAD considering CFE as structural material to analyze it in terms of strength and stability with different loading conditions in real life application. The maximum tensile stress is found at the transmission tower members near to the base of the structure with the amount of 210MPa. The breaking stress of CFE material is 1200MPa which is much more than the tensile stress occurs at the transmission tower at different loading conditions. The innovative design approach incorporating stability analysis found to be most competent for stating the stability and strength of tower and further clarify the safety approach of design.

The cross-sectional degradation of steel transmission tower members due to corrosion has been one of the major issues in the transmission line system. The degradation of appearance of the material has also been seen because of corrosion. Therefore, there is a need for a less corrosive and high strength alternate material for transmission towers. It seems in recent years that alternate materials have been needed to replace steel which have low maintenance cost and good resistance to corrosion. The advantages of composite transmission towers are fire resistant, high stiffness, durability, high strength, moderate ductility, rigidity, easy to assemble and economical. The present study has made an effort to evaluate the performance of composite transmission tower. The glass fibre polyamide composite material has been used as a structural material. First, a finite element tower model of 132 KV has been set up in Structural Analysis and Design Software as glass fibre polyamide structural material as per transmission tower design guidelines (Code for Transmission tower design, IS 802.1.1.1995, Bureau of Indian Standards). Second, all the active loads like wind load on the body, wind load on conducting wires and ground wires, weight of conducting wires, weight of structure, weight of ground wires, weight of insulator and weight of line man with tools are calculated manually as per transmission tower design guidelines and applied in the finite element tower model. The stress distribution of the composite tower model has been simulated in Structural Analysis and Design Software and the results have been analysed. The broken wire condition (if one conductor is broken or earth wire is broken) has been innovatively considered in the present study. Results obtained in this article show that maximum induced stress on transmission tower member is less than the deign strength of glass fibre polyamide composite material. The glass fibre polyamide composite material has been found to be capable to withstand the maximum stresses induced due to different loading conditions considered in the study.

Tendency of composite materials uses in transmission tower structure is increasing tremendously over conventional zinc galvanized steel materials because of some special advantages. Using the composite materials over conventional materials in the field of large structure construction like transmission tower in large scale, the detail study of the dynamic behavior of structure made up with composite materials is needed. Modal analysis of tower structure made up with composite materials has been reported few or all most nil in the literature. The present study has taken up the challenge for the modal analysis of the present design approach of tower made up with composite material like Carbon fiber epoxy (thermoset). The results found for first six modes of vibration using STAAD pro (A commercial software tool). The results are compared with the results obtained by typical conventional method, still followed by the industry for erection of such high tower made up with conventional material like zinc galvanized steel. The dynamic design approach incorporating Modal Analysis found to be most competent for stating the dynamic behavior of this tower and further clarify the safety approach of design.

The present study comprises of different types of cored sandwich structures with different core geometries. A combination of materials of skins and cores were considered to investigate the free vibrational or modal behaviour on the core materials and geometries for the structure for illuminating the vibrational aspects for failures. Subsequently, the deformation for sandwich structures with various core geometries and materials was also studied. The objective of the article is to provide an essence of vibrational performance study of aluminium alloy for both skins, and the results were compared among core materials unlike materially configured sandwich structures of honeycomb core. Simulations of mode shapes were obtained using the free vibrational constraints. From this study, it was obtained that, two types of core geometries strictly imply that there is obvious effect of shape of core in sandwich beam vibrational characteristics of structure, as in the study. Lastly, the results obtained by using honeycomb core geometry of certain material was compared to regular rectangular geometrized core and found to have better results in terms of natural frequencies and maximum deformation of the later. Thus, findings may serve as a case for application of similar structures in engineering applications.

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