Project Team

Andrei Reinhorn Civil, Structural & Environmental Engineering; University at Buffalo

Andre Filiatrault Civil, Structural & Environmental Engineering; University at Buffalo

Michael Constantinou Civil, Structural & Environmental Engineering; University at Buffalo

Current Graduate Students all Ph.D. candidates, Civil, Structural & Environmental Engineering; University at Buffalo Maria Koliou Fahad Muhammad Konstantinos Oikonomou Nicholas Oliveto Ki Pung Ryu

Recent Graduates all Ph.D.’s, Civil, Structural & Environmental Engineering; University at Buffalo Gian Paolo Cimellaro, 2007 Dohwan Kong, 2010 Hwasong Roh, 2007 Xioyuan Shao, 2007

Sponsors

www.bpa.gov

www.energy.ca.gov

Resilience of Electric Power Substation Equipment

Electric power substation bushings are readied for testing on the shake table at the University at Buffalo

MCEER’s multi-year effort to evaluate and improve the resilience of current and future electric power substation equipment has resulted in a series of recommended changes to the IEEE Standard 693-2005 - IEEE Recommended Practice for Seismic Design of Substations. Research work focuses on identifying the shortcomings of current design practices and developing new standards for qualification testing of seismically vulnerable substation equipment, primarily transformers and bushings.

The studies are supported by $1.2 million from the Bonneville Power Administration (BPA) and the California Energy Commission (CEC). The research continues a long-time MCEER focus on the seismic resilience of electric power substation equipment. The projects are led by Andrei Reinhorn, in collaboration with Andre Filiatrault and Michael Constantinou, all from the Department of Civil, Structural and Environmental Engineering at the University at Buffalo. They also include a project advisory committee comprising industry participants that provide continuing guidance to the research program.

Partners

Anshel Schiff Precision Measurement Instruments

Leon Kempner, Jr. Bonneville Power Administration

Individual projects focus on the following:

■ Evaluation and Improvement of Substation Equipment, specifically transformers – including computational finite element modeling of substation transformers, and the testing of composite post insulators. This project is funded by BPA.

■ Improved Seismic Performance of Transformer Bushings – experimentally evaluate high-voltage transformer-bushing interaction and enable their future analysis and physical seismic qualification. Current IEEE 693 qualification procedures consider both the bushing and the transformer, but fail to recognize the interaction between the two. This project is funded by the CEC.

■ Reducing Disruption of Power Systems in Earthquakes – develop and execute a multi-year research program to improve seismic resilience of substation equipment through development of advanced methods for protecting substation equipment. This project is funded by BPA.

The new recommendations have been submitted to the California Energy Commission’s Public Interest Energy Research (PIER) Program as a final project report authored by the team members.

The IEEE Standard 693-2005 discusses seismic design recommendations for substations, including qualification of each equipment type. Design recommendations consist of seismic criteria, qualification methods and levels, structural capacities, performance requirements for equipment operation, installation methods, and documentation.

Electrical Utilities Consortium

The MCEER Electrical Utility Consortium (EUC) was created in response to the needs of electrical utilities and focuses specifically on the seismic behavior of electrical substation equipment. The EUC was established through collaboration with and matching funds from the Electrical Power Research Institute (EPRI), which regroups electrical utilities in North America (US, Canada and Mexico). The Consortium investigates unresolved issues related to the IEEE-693 Standard on Recommended Practice for Seismic Design of Substations.

Research involves shake table testing of large and potentially vulnerable substation equipment such as transformer bushings and disconnect switches.

A technical oversight committee sets overall strategy, goals and schedule for the EUC research program. The committee is composed of one representative from each participating utility.

9/12

Testing of a disconnect switch on the shake table

at the University at Buffalo

Selected Publications

Journal Articles Roh, H., Reinhorn A.M. and Oliveto N., 2012, "Mechanical Behavior and Modeling of Composite Electric Post Insulators," Nonlinear Dynamics, 69(4), 1651-1663.

Koliou, M., Filiatrault, A., and Reinhorn, A.M. 2012. “Seismic Response of High Voltage Transformer Bushing Systems Incorporating Flexural Stiffeners I: Numerical Study,” Earthquake Spectra (accepted, in press).

Koliou, M., Filiatrault, A., and Reinhorn, A.M. 2012. “Seismic Response of High Voltage Transformer Bushing Systems Incorporating Flexural Stiffeners II: Experimental Study,” Earthquake Spectra (accepted, in press).

MCEER Reports “Seismic Protection of Electrical Transformer Bushing Systems by Stiffening Techniques,” M. Koliou, A. Filiatrault, A.M. Reinhorn and N. Oliveto; MCEER-12-0002; 6/1/2012.

“Modeling and Seismic Performance Evaluation of High Voltage Transformers and Bushings,” A.M. Reinhorn, K. Oikonomou, H. Roh, A. Schiff and L. Kempner, Jr.; MCEER-11-0006; 10/3/2011.

“Proceedings of the Workshop on Improving Earthquake Response of Substation Equipment,” Edited by A. Reinhorn; MCEER-11-0003; 9/19/2011.