Structural health monitoring of transmission tower based on inclinometer sensing system

Transmission tower as a part of the power system, plays a significant role in supporting conductor, ground wire and other accessories in the overhead transmission line. It is very crucial to make sure it runs safely and stably for people's production and life. Due to the high flexibility of the transmission tower structure, the wind load is an important control load and plays a decisive role. Under the cyclic stress caused by wind load for a long time, some minor damages and defects of the tower can easily reach the limit of fatigue and cause local or overall damage. In this research work, one structural health monitoring system using wireless inclinometers is proposed. And then the proposed monitoring system was installed on the transmission tower for remote real-time on-line monitoring. The real inclination response of the structures under environmental load and operational load can be monitored in real time. The inclination response monitored was used to evaluate the structural health conditions of the transmission tower. This kind of monitoring scheme has a good practical application value and can effectively avoid the occurrence of major power accidents.