Seismic behavior of flexible conductors connecting substation equipment Part I: static and dynamic properties of individual components

Prompted by recent failures in earthquakes of interconnected high-voltage electrical equipment in substations and a lack of available design information, BC Hydro initiated an experimental program to address this issue. Powertech Labs, in collaboration with BC Hydro and the University of British Columbia (UBC), formulated a research plan to investigate how flexible conductors affect the seismic response of interconnected substation equipment. This paper describes the result of static tests on flexible conductors and of calculations of dynamic properties of equipment in BC Hydro substations. For a set of six interconnected configurations the natural frequencies were calculated and where possible, calibrated to the measured natural frequencies of the equipment. Index Terms--Dynamic finite-element analysis, field measurement of dynamic properties, flexible stranded conductors, seismic performance, substation equipment.