Failure evaluation of transmission tower with asymmetrical legs by Scaled–Down pushover experiment

Power transmission towers are essential for the maintenance of daily living activities. Natural disasters such as wind storms, earthquakes, and landslides may damage these towers and cause considerable economic losses. To prevent these losses, transmission towers with asymmetrical legs, which have great flexibility on mountainous terrain, have been considered. Consequently, a scaled-down numerical model was first designed on the basis of a full-scale tower to understand the basic failure behavior of a transmission tower with asymmetrical legs. In addition, an experimental tower model was also conducted by pushover test to observe the failure mechanism and ductility. The failure mechanisms of the model were compared with the numerical simulations obtained from the finite element analysis. To accommodate the effects of asymmetrical legs, the component size should be increased appropriately for body extension. The results have demonstrated the feasibility of implementing transmission towers with asymmetrical legs at unique geographical locations.