Determining Mechanical Strength of Composite Traverse for 6-10 kV Overhead Power Line with Finite Element Method

Overhead power lines with a voltage of 6–10 kV, intended for power supply of signalling, centralised traffic control and signalling block systems and of electrical equipment along the railways use as supporting structures metallic traverses with porcelain or glass insulators. According to available data, defects caused by mechanical stresses account for more than half of the total number of disruptions in the normal operation of overhead power lines. It is worth highlighting defects that are the most frequent: chip of the insulator, bend of the pin, fracture of the pin, destruction of the insulator, separation of the insulator from the pin, distortion of the traverse, destruction of the traverse, bending of the traverse, decay or corrosion of the traverse. To increase the reliability of overhead power lines and reduce these damages, it is proposed to manufacture traverses from polymer composite electrical insulating material. Such traverses do not have insulators and are used as an electromechanical structure with the required mechanical and electrical strength. The objective of this work is to assess the mechanical strength of traverses made of polymer composite electrical insulating materials. To solve the set tasks, the work considers a three-dimensional model of the traverse. Its mechanical strength is determined using applied software implementing the finite element method (FEM). Loads in horizontal and vertical planes are applied to the cross-arm, the most stress-strained state of the traverse’s arms and the pin bracket is determined. In addition, the article compares the calculation results using the analytical method performed in the previous work with FEM calculation, verifies the assumed physical and geometric parameters, material properties and assumptions in calculations.