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Climatological, Meteorological and CFD Analysis CIGRE 2012 21, rue d’Artois, F-75008 PARIS http : //www.cigre.org B2_207 Effects from downbursts on overhead lines; Meteorological thunderstorm study – climatological, meteorological and CFD analysis C. KARNER S. TSCHANNETT A. BECK H. LUGSCHITZ M. RATHEISER H. KAUFMANN 1) Austrian Power Grid APG W. GEPP Zentralanstalt für Meteorologie Austria H. KAUFMANN und Geodynamik ZAMG Weatherpark GmbH Austria Austria 1) current affiliation SUMMARY In February and March 2008 cyclone “Emma” crossed some countries of central Europe and caused severe damages. In very local areas thunderstorms with downbursts were em- bedded in “Emma” and led to collapses of overhead lines. Downbursts are downward winds with high velocity within a thunderstorm concerning a relative small area. They occur seldom but can have severe effects and are responsible for various local damages on buildings, forests and infrastructure as e.g. overhead lines. In many cases in history, such damages were not brought into connection with downbursts. The Cigre reports 350 and 410 deal with localized high intensity winds. They state that “…more research is needed to study the interaction of localized winds with supports...” The question arose if the terrain triggered wind speed-up effects. Another question was which wind forces and directions occurred during these events. To investigate the influ- ences of high wind speeds on damaged overhead lines, a pilot study was carried out. Three dimensional wind fields where computed and analyzed regarding to speed-up effects. This paper presents the investigations, climatological aspects as well as CFD case studies (Computational Fluid Dynamics) and shows the amplification factors for the wind speed. The method which was developed in the project can be used for any other region to simulate tendencies of wind speed-up, regardless if they come from downbursts or not. It helps to a better understanding of the reason for wind induced failures. KEYWORDS Downburst, downdraft, tower failures, cyclone, high intensity winds [email protected] 1 Damages on Overhead Lines by cyclones Emma and Vivian From February 29th to March 2nd in 2008 the extratropical cyclone Emma crossed North and Eastern Europe and caused serious damage especially in Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Czech Republic, Hungary and Slovakia. In very local areas thunderstorms with downbursts were embedded in Emma and led to severe damages on houses, forests, all kind of facilities and to collapses of overhead lines. In APG´s grid in Austria towers of a 110kV and a 220kV line failed in a very small area of app 1 km in diameter, whilst another 110kV line 600m apart remained more or less unaffected. In February 1990 the cyclone Vivian caused similar but less damages in the neighbouring area. This was not brought into connection with a downburst at that time. Figure 1: area with damages from cyclone Emma. The two blue lines indicate the area where the overhead line towers collapsed. [1] In the Cigre publication 350 a downburst is defined as “…a strong convective down-draft inducing an outward flow of damaging winds when reaching the ground. The downdraft makes contact with the ground and then spreads outwards, causing severe winds at low altitudes. These events are often associated with thunderstorms“. It is there also mentioned: “Downdrafts can sometimes be larger than tornadoes in extent, i.e. more than one span can be affected by an event.” [2] During Emma at the 220kV line seven suspension towers and at the 110kV line five suspension towers collapsed. No foundations failed. There is no indication for poor material quality, neither for the steel angles nor for the bolts. No indication for brittle fracture was found. Conductors and towers were not covered by ice. The conductors did not brake due to the high content of steel (single conductor aluminium/steel 340/ 110 mm2), damages of the conductors in the clamps were found. The lines were built 1958 and 1979. Both lines were designed for loads exceeding the minimum values given in the relevant Austrian standards. The design ice loads were of 60–70 N per meter conductor. The material quality of all components was in order and was not the reason for the collapses. 2 Eyewitnesses of Emma reported heavy rain and hail during the disastrous wind, which lasted only a few minutes. Nobody was hurt, no property was damaged from broken towers. In Hungary and in the Czech Republic Emma created similar damages on lines from 110kV to 380kV. These faults occurred at several locations. Figure 3: no brittle fractures of tower steel at Figure 2: typical situation of a damaged tower. No failures of foundations. the tower´s angles (built 1958 resp. 1979.) Damages on buildings, forests and other facilities were enormous. The situations were reported as natural catastrophes. In APG´s grid with 12.000 towers the collapses caused by Vivian and Emma were the only ones from effects of heavy wind so far. Climatologic situation Twice within 19 years the region of St. Peter am Hart in Austria was hit by windstorms which caused severe damage. The region is mainly characterized by two large flow pat- terns, cyclones associated with westerly winds and weather fronts and anticyclones in association with easterly winds and more stable weather conditions. According to the Köppen-Geiger Classification the climate is “warm temperate” and “fully humid” with “warm summers” [3]. Most precipitation is detected during the summer. Usually higher mean wind speeds occur in winter and spring. Cyclone Emma passed Central Europe with two severe gale events, the first stronger one passed on March 1st (figure 4) and the second on March 2nd. The highest measured gusts in Austrian flat terrain occurred on March 1st and reached about 140 km/h in the city of Salz- burg [4]. At meteorological sites in mountainous areas occurred 140 -165 km/h. Figure 4 : Reanalysis of sea level pressure from March 1st 2008 showing extratropical cy- clone Emma (labelled with T) over Sweden and the associa- ted cold front over South and Eastern Europe (solid blue line) and the so-called conver- gence line associated with thunderstorms (dashed blue line). [5] 3 Figure 5: Radar echoes of precipi- tation associated with cyclone Emma, corresponding to the conver- gence line shown in figure 4 approa- ching the region of St. Peter in 2008, red lines 380kV OHL, green lines 220kV OHL (radar picture: Austro Control) The meteorological analysis takes into account observational informa- tion from all meteorological sites in Austria as well as sophisticated in- terpolation algorithms. Nevertheless the area of the affected overhead lines does not agree with the areas of the highest analysed gust speeds. This fact suggests the hypothesis that very local effects, such as downbursts, are responsible for the collapse of the towers. Indeed, thunderstorms with precipitation and hailstorm were embedded in Emma (see figure 5) and in very local areas also downbursts occurred [1]. At Ranshofen (about 5 km distance to the area of collapsed towers), the highest measured gusts lay at about 103 km/h which normally occurs at this measuring site every 7 to 10 years. By the time of this highest wind gusts the temperature dropped about 8°C within 10 minutes (see figure 6). According to radar-echoes and the character of damages on lines and other damages in the adjacent area it was found out, that the wind speed must have exceeded the measured ones at Ranshofen [1]. It was concluded that a downburst occurred with most likely wind speeds of 210-220 km/h at the area of the collapsed lines, in the level of standard measuring height 10 m above ground level. Figure 6: Time series for measured data at meteorological site Ranshofen on March 1st 2008 during Emma (time in UTC) based on 10 minute measures. Direction mean wind dd [1/10°], direction wind gusts ddx [1/10°],mean wind speed ff [km/h], speed wind gusts ffx [km/h], rain sum rr [1/10 mm], Temperature tl [°C], pressure p [hPa]. At the time of the highest wind gust (09:40 UTC) the temperature dropped abruptly, pressure increased and in association with the thunder- storm heavy rain occurred (within one hour more than 7 mm were detec- ted). 4 At the end of February 1990 extratropical cyclone Vivian affected great parts of Europe with high winds and resulting damage to buildings and forests [6]. Just a few days later secondary extratropical cyclone Wiebke developed and passed Central Europe. In Austria highest wind speeds were measured on February 26th (Vivian) and March 1st (Wiebke). In the concerned region - at Linz-Hörsching (298 m above MSL) - about 155 km/h were measured on February 26th (which here occurs averagely about one time every 100 years). Associated with the second windstorm Wiebke wind speeds of 162 km/h were measured at Linz-Hörsching which is the highest value ever measured there. The front passage of Vivian was associated with a strong drop of surface pressure and temperature and accom- panied by strong precipitation amounts [7]. At neighbouring sites in Germany maximum wind speeds on February 26th reached 133 km/h in Passau and 115 km/h in Mühldorf. At the mountain site Feuerkogel (1618 m above MSL) in Upper Austria, gusts of about 169 km/h were detected, and on March 1st 180 km/h. Research program and methodology In view of the observed wind storms a model-based climatological investigation has been carried out to assess the spatial pattern and temporal distribution of strong wind events in Austria. A comprehensive model-based climatology has been put together. This synthetic climatology covers the time period 1974 to 2008 and is based on atmospheric reanalysis- data downscaled to 1x1 km using a chain of numerical weather prediction models.
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