SNOW ACCRETION ON OVERHEAD LINE CONDUCTORS OF FINITE TORSIONAL STIFFNESS

A theoretical study of snow loading on the windward side of an overhead line conductor (OHL), of finite span and finite torsional stiffness, is made on employing known meteorological data for dendritic snowflakes to determine their wind-driven migration in the vicinity of the conductor and their impaction on the conductor. Two different three-dimensional, time-dependent mathematical/computer models are developed which are capable of simulating a wide variety of environmental conditions known to exist in a snow storm. The numerical results of the complete spectrum of snowflakes model (CSM) are used to check the accuracy of those results obtained from an average snowflake size model (ASM). It is shown that predictions of the considerably less computationally demanding ASM are in almost exact agreement with those of CSM.