A Simple Failure Analysis of the Composite Transmission Tower

Abstract

The failure analysis of the composite transmission tower made of new and better material, E-Glass with vinylester, is presented in this paper. The conventional fastener method to join the cross members to the leg members was in place of a slip joint that was developed by Goldsworthy Engineering. The lamina of the leg member and the cross bracing were tested and compared with several other failure criteria, including the Tsai-Wu Theory, the Tsai-Hill Theory, the Hoffman Theory, the Fischer Criterion, the Cowin Criterion, the Yeh-Stratton Criterion, and the Quadric Surfaces Criterion. Besides, the full-scale tower tests were performed at Electrical and Power Research Institute. From the results of the simple failure analysis of the composite transmission tower with those failure criteria, it shows that building a transmission tower from a composite material, E-Glass and vinylester, is feasible.