Research on Windage Yaw Flashovers of Transmission Lines under Wind and Rain Conditions

Windage yaw flashovers under strong wind and rain conditions leave a negative impact on the safe operation of transmission lines. However, the mechanism behind this is not well known yet. Therefore, this paper proposes a systematic method, including three basic parts described as simulation of wind and rain loads, calculation of windage yaw, and flashover analysis, to analyze windage yaw flashovers of transmission lines. The YanMeng-particle swarm optimization (YanMeng-PSO) algorithm is proposed to enhance the simulation accuracy. Unlike the conventional approach, the windage yaw status of conductors and insulator strings is dynamically described with key nodes and the breakdown voltage of their clearances rather than windage yaw angle. Furthermore, in the second part, a new method named key-node method (KNM) is proposed to calculate the conductors’ windage yaw. Moreover, the rain effect is also considered in this paper. This paper then presents a case study on a 110 kV double-circuit transmission line section that suffered severe collapse when the typhoon Rammasun landed in Hainan island. Particular focus was placed on the windage yaw flashover before the structural failure of the transmission line. The results validated the significant rain effect and found that conductors/ground suffer more severe windage yaw flashover than insulator strings. Finally, constructive solutions such as interphase spacers, reasonable conductor arrangement in the design phase, and regular measurements and adjustments of conductor sag in the maintenance phase are proposed to improve the design of transmission lines to enhance their capacity against windage yaw flashovers.