Improved calculation of sag for a conductor

supported at unequal heights

Japhet D. Sakala
Department of Electrical Engineering, University of Botswana, Botswana
E-mail: sakala@mopipi.ub.bw

Abstract The sag of conductors of an overhead line is determined from the horizontal tension at
the lowest point of the conductors. In a conductor supported at unequal heights the lowest point
is calculated, together with the horizontal tension, from hyperbolic expressions using an iterative
procedure. In practice the hyperbolic functions are usually approximated by their first two terms.
While the results are close to the actual values some differences may arise because the approximate
methods may not converge to the exact values. The Newton Raphson sag method presented in the
paper applies the Newton Raphson method to obtain fast convergence to the exact values. It is
inherently more accurate than the classical iterative procedure based on approximating the hyperbolic
functions; and the convergence criterion may be set as small as required. The method is also
applicable to a conductor supported at equal heights.

Keywords conductor sag; horizontal tension; sag tension

The paper proposes a new method for calculating the sag and horizontal tension at
the lowest point of a conductor supported at unequal heights. The method is suitable
for teaching purposes as it emphasizes the iterative nature of the solutions. While
the new method uses the same equations as the classical method it builds on the fast
convergence characteristics of the Newton Raphson Method when used to solve
nonlinear equations. The horizontal tension at the lowest point of a conductor is
required for the calculation of the sag and the maximum tension of a conductor. The
maximum tension and sag are important because a conductor must meet the statutory
requirements of safety factor and clearance between live overhead conductors and
the ground or metallic parts. The horizontal tension is determined from a hyperbolic
equation linking it and the maximum allowable tension in the conductor, which is
the tension at the higher support of the conductor.
Present methods determine the horizontal tension by either assuming that the
catenary approximates the curve of a parabola or from successive approximations
of the value from a solution of the quadratic equation obtained after approximating
the hyperbolic function by the first two terms.1,2 In some cases the horizontal tension
is merely assumed to be equal to the maximum allowable tension of the conductor.3
An expression for the lowest point of the conductor is presented as a function of the
tension at the lowest point of the conductor and length of the conductor, both
unknowns.4 Its application may therefore still require resorting to iterative tech-
niques. The paper presents a method which uses the Newton Raphson method5,6 to
calculate the horizontal tension at the lowest point of the conductor. It has rapid
convergence characteristics and can therefore be used for hand calculations. The
proposed method is easy to apply and teach.

International Journal of Electrical Engineering Education 45/4

Downloaded from ije.sagepub.com at PENNSYLVANIA STATE UNIV on September 16, 2016

328 J. D. Sakala

Many undergraduate syllabi on electrical power systems include the mechanical

design of overhead lines. One of the topics covered is the determination of the sag
and the horizontal tension in the lowest part of a conductor. The conductor may be
supported at equal or unequal heights. The solution when a conductor is supported
at unequal heights is more demanding, as the location of the lowest point of the
conductor is also an unknown to be determined. The lowest point may either be
between the supports or outside of the span, on the side of the lower support.

Background
Consider a conductor supported at A and B as shown in Fig. 1. The quantities in the
figure have the following meaning:
AOB is the catenary of the conductor;
O is the lowest point of the conductor;
xa is the horizontal distance from support A to the lowest point O;
xb is the horizontal distance from point O to support B;
da is the sag of the lowest point with respect to support A;
db is the sag of the lowest point with respect to support B.
Let
Tmax be the allowable tension in the conductor. It occurs at the higher support;
H be the tension in the conductor at O. i.e. the horizontal tension in the
conductor;
l be the span, i.e. the sum of xa and xb;
wcond be the weight of the conductor;
wice be the weight of ice coating on the conductor;
Fwind be the force of wind acting perpendicularly to the conductor;
wrcond be the resultant weight of the conductor given by (ω cond + ω ice )2 + Fwind 2 .
The horizontal tension H is related to the allowable tension in the conductor
Tmax by:1

Fig. 1 Conductor supported at A and B, with lowest point at O.

International Journal of Electrical Engineering Education 45/4

Downloaded from ije.sagepub.com at PENNSYLVANIA STATE UNIV on September 16, 2016

Improved calculation of sag 329

ω rcond xb
Tmax = H cosh (1)
H
The sags of the lowest point of the conductor with respect to supports A and B are
given by

da =
H⎡
( )
ω ⎣⎢
ω
cosh rcond a − 1⎤
H
x
⎥⎦
(2)

d = ⎡cosh (
H ) ⎦⎥
ω
− 1⎤
H x rcond b
(3)
ω ⎣⎢
b

l
For a conductor supported at equal heights xa = xb = . When the heights are
2
different the values of xa and xb are approximated respectively by
l hH
xa = − (4)
2 ω rcond l
l hH
xb = + (5)
2 ω rcond l
Where h is the difference in heights between the supports. However since H is not
known prior to the solution the initial estimate is obtained by assuming that H is
equal to the allowable tension Tmax.
The value of xb is then used in eqn (1) to estimate the value of H from the quadratic
equation which is obtained after approximating the cosh function by the first two
terms:
ω rcond 2 xb 2
H 2 − HTmax + =0
2
The new value of H is then used to estimate the next value of xb which is in turn
used to calculate a new H. The process is repeated until the value of H has converged,
i.e. there is little difference between successive values.
The solution procedure is as follows:

1 Assume H = Tmax;
2 Calculate xa, xb;
3 Update H;
4 Check for convergence; if not converged, repeat steps 2 and 3.
5 After convergence, determine the sag of the conductor and the clearance at
the midpoint between the supports, if required. Usually the sag midway
between the supports is of interest when determining the clearance of the
conductor.
Starr1 proposes improvement in the solution by using an exact expression to evalu-
ate xb at each iteration based on an expansion of the cosh terms into sinh terms, i.e.

International Journal of Electrical Engineering Education 45/4

Downloaded from ije.sagepub.com at PENNSYLVANIA STATE UNIV on September 16, 2016

330 J. D. Sakala

h = hb − ha =
H⎡
ω ⎣⎢
ω
H( x
)H
⎦⎥ ω ⎣⎢
ω
cosh rcond b − 1⎤ − ⎡cosh rcond a − 1⎤
H
x
⎥⎦ ( )
H⎡ ω rcond xb ω rcond xa ⎤
= cosh − cosh
ω ⎢⎣ H H ⎥⎦
=
2H
ω (
ω l
) (ω
sinh rcond sinh rcond b
2H
( x − xa )
2H ) (6)

where ha and hb are the heights of the supports at A and B respectively.

While incorporation of the sinh terms poses no significant challenges for a com-
puting routine it is cumbersome for hand calculations. In addition, Starr uses cosh
tables to evaluate the values of the horizontal tension for each successive estimate
of the lowest point of the conductor. This approach is cumbersome and an alternative
approach is therefore explored.

Newton Raphson sag method

In this section an exact method based on determination of the horizontal tension via
the solution of the hyperbolic functions in eqns (1) and (2) is proposed. In this work,
this method is called the ‘Newton Raphson sag method’. The proposed approach is
to use iterative techniques based on reducing the errors of equations derived from
the hyperbolic functions.
Given a function
f = f ( x) = 0
Its root near a value xn can be approximated by
xn +1 = xn + Δxn
where Δxn is the adjustment applied to the value of xn.
The function at xn+1 may be expanded by the Taylor series
fn +1 = f ( xn + Δxn ) = f ( xn ) + Δxn f ′ ( xn ) + Δxn 2 f ′′ ( xn ) 2 ! + . . .
where the f′(xn) is the first derivative of the function f(xn) with respect to x.
Approximating the expression by the first two terms and equating to zero:
fn +1 = f ( xn + Δxn ) = f ( xn ) + Δxn f ′ ( xn ) = 0
Δxn = − f ( xn ) f ′( xn )
The next value, a better estimate of the root, is given by:
xn +1 = xn + Δxn
The process is continued at the xn+1 to obtain a better approximation of the root. It
is stopped when the correction to the root is less than the convergence criterion.
The method is commonly known as the Newton Raphson method.5,6 It is proposed
to adapt this method to the determination of the horizontal tension in a conductor
as follows:

International Journal of Electrical Engineering Education 45/4

Downloaded from ije.sagepub.com at PENNSYLVANIA STATE UNIV on September 16, 2016

Improved calculation of sag 331

Define an error function based on eqn (1)

ΔT = Tmax − H cosh (ω H x )
rcond b
(7)

Find its derivative with respect to H:

ΔT ′ =
δΔT
δH
ω
H
x
( ω
H
x
)
ω
H
x
= − cosh rcond b + rcond b sinh rcond b ( ) (8)

ω 2x 2 ω 2x 2
≈ − ⎛⎜ 1 + rcond 2 b − rcond 2 b ⎞⎟
⎝ 2H H ⎠
ω 2x 2
≈ − ⎛⎜ 1 − rcond 2 b ⎞⎟ (8a)
⎝ 2H ⎠
ω rcond xb
when is much less than 1, and the cosh and sinh functions can be
H
represented by the first two terms and one term respectively. A further approximation
can be made:
ω rcond xb
ΔT ′ ≈ 1 when << 1
H

Find the adjustment to the horizontal tension, root of ΔT at the (n+1)th

interval:
ΔH n = − ΔTn ΔTn′ (9)
Add the correction to the previous value of the horizontal tension to obtain the
more accurate value at the (n+1)th interval:
H n +1 = H n + ΔH n (10)
Repeat the procedure until the error function ΔT satisfies the convergence crite-
rion, i.e. the absolute value of ΔT is equal to or less than ΔTmax, where the latter is
the maximum allowable error in the allowable tension T.
The derivative to be used depends on the computing resources available.
The actual derivative, given by eqn (8), is easy to program. However, if the
solution is by hand or when speed of solution is important, the derivative can
be approximated either to the expression obtained by using only the first one or
two terms of the hyperbolic functions, eqn (8a), or the very approximate value
of −1.
The value of xb to be used in the tension equation is obtained from another error
function based on eqn (6):

Δh = h −
H
ω ⎢⎣ ( H ) H (
⎡cosh ω rcond xb − cosh ω rcond xa ⎤
⎥⎦ ) (11)

Its derivative with respect to xb is:

International Journal of Electrical Engineering Education 45/4

Downloaded from ije.sagepub.com at PENNSYLVANIA STATE UNIV on September 16, 2016

332 J. D. Sakala

Δh ′ =
δΔh
δ xb
H
ω ⎣⎢ H
ω ω
H
x ω
H(
= − ⎡ − sinh rcond b − sinh rcond a ⎤
ω
H
x
)
⎦⎥ ( )
ω
= − ⎡ − sinh rcond
H
ω ⎣⎢ H
ω
H (
(l − xa ) ω
− sinh rcond a ⎤
H
x
⎦⎥) ( )
ω
= sinh rcond((l − x a )
H
ω
)
+ sinh rcond a
H
x
( ) (12)

Since the arguments are less than 1, the sinh terms can be approximated by the first
terms of the series expansion to give:
ω rcond (l − xa ) ω rcond xa
Δh ′ ≈ +
H H
ω rcond l
= (13)
H
ω rcond l
≈ (13a)
Tmax
Since H approximately equals Tmax.
The adjustment to the root xb n of Δh at the nth interval is:
Δxb n = − Δhb n Δhn′ (14)
This is used to obtain the corrected value of the distance from the lowest point to
the higher support at the (n+1)th iteration. i.e.
xb n +1 = xb n + Δxb n (15)
The complete solution incorporating the calculations of location of the lowest point
and the horizontal tension proceeds as follows:
1 Assume that the horizontal tension H is equal to the allowable tension in the
conductor Tmax.
2 Estimate the location of the lowest point of the conductor from the approxi-
mate value based on representing the cosh terms by the first two terms i.e.
eqn (5).
3 Determine the lowest point, values of xa and xb, by iteration using eqns (11),
(12) or its approximations (13) or (13a), (14) and (15).
4 Update the horizontal tension H by iterating using eqns (7), (8), (9) and
(10).
5 Check for convergence of H. If not converged repeat steps 3 and 4.
6 After convergence determine the sags at the supports and in between the sup-
ports or as required.

Results
The proposed method was used to determine the clearance above water level of the
mid point of a conductor weighing 8.66 N/m, which is supported at unequal heights

International Journal of Electrical Engineering Education 45/4

Downloaded from ije.sagepub.com at PENNSYLVANIA STATE UNIV on September 16, 2016

Improved calculation of sag 333

of 45.72 m and 91.44 m respectively above water level. The distance between the
supports is 335.28 m. The allowable tension in the conductor is 19 000 N. The
problem, allowing for a change of units from imperial to SI and some minor adjust-
ments of values, is a solved example in Douglas,3 page 62.
The solutions were obtained using routines written in the Matlab language. Three
routines were used as follows:
1 Approximate method: Based on an approximation for obtaining the location
of the lowest point of the conductor from the distance between supports
and the quadratic expression for determining the horizontal tension in the
conductor. The solution starts with assuming the horizontal tension to be
equal to the allowable tension. Successive iterations are carried out, up to a
maximum number of twenty. The convergence criterion that was used for
the error in the error function formed from the allowable tension equation was
1 × 10−20.
2 Partially exact method: This differs from the approximate method in that the
location of the lowest point of the conductor is determined from a the solution
of the exact expression based on the sinh terms expressions given in equations
for solving for the location of the lowest point of the conductor from an exact
expression for the lowest point of the conductor and, as in the first routine,
the quadratic expression for obtaining the horizontal tension. As in the approx-
imate solution it is assumed initially that the horizontal tension in the con-
ductor is equal to the allowable tension. Also the convergence criterion is
1 × 10−20.
3 Exact method (Newton Raphson sag method): In the proposed method the
location point of the lowest point and the horizontal tension in the conductor
are determined by forcing their respective error functions to zero. The starting
assumption and the convergence criterion are the same as for the preceding
two cases. The convergence criterion for the location of the lowest point of
the conductor is set at 1 × 10−6 m, i.e. a thousandth of a millimetre, which is
considered adequate. A more demanding convergence criterion of 1 × 10−20
per unit, based on the allowable tension, is put on the error function of the
allowable tension in order to illustrate convergence of the solution.
Table 1 shows a comparison of the approximate, partially exact, and the exact
method.

Discussion
The approximate method gives slightly inaccurate results both in the location of the
lowest point of the conductor and also the horizontal tension in the conductor. Sub-
sequently the error functions for the difference in supports and the maximum tension
do not converge to zero.
The partially exact method locates the lowest point accurately but converges to a
value for the horizontal tension that is slightly different from the exact value. Con-
sequently the error function for the allowable tension does not become zero.

International Journal of Electrical Engineering Education 45/4

Downloaded from ije.sagepub.com at PENNSYLVANIA STATE UNIV on September 16, 2016

 334

TABLE 1 Comparison of results obtained using three methods

Item Approximate Partially exact Exact

Sag of lowest point with respect to 3.6328 m 3.5652 m 3.5641 m

lower support
Sag of lowest point with respect to 49.5414 m 49.2852 m 49.2841 m
higher support
Difference in sags 45.9086 m 45.72 m 45.72 m
Error in height function −0.1886 m 0m 0m
(actual 1.9895 × 10−13) (actual 2.6384 × 10−8 with a convergence
criterion of 1 × 10−6)
Clearance at midpoint of supports 62.0579 m 61.9650 m 61.9644 m
Distance between lowest point and −124.811 m −123.659 m −123.627 m

International Journal of Electrical Engineering Education 45/4

support A
Distance between lowest point of 460.091 m 458.922 m 458.907 m
conductor and support B
Error in allowable tension −1.6417 N −1.6246 N 0N
Horizontal tension 18 572.6133 N 18 574.8145 N 18 573.2000 N
−20 −20
Convergence criterion 1 × 10 1 × 10 1 × 10−20
(on changes in horizontal tension (on changes in horizontal tension (on per unit change in the error function

Downloaded from ije.sagepub.com at PENNSYLVANIA STATE UNIV on September 16, 2016

between successive iterations) between successive iterations) of allowable tension between successive
iterations)
Number of iterations 12 12 7
(No significant changes after 7 (No significant changes after 7
iterations) iterations)
J. D. Sakala
Improved calculation of sag 335

The exact method (Newton Raphson sag method) gives accurate values for both
the location of the lowest point and the horizontal tension in the conductor. The
respective error functions converge rapidly to zero. The error function for the height
of the supports converges within a few iterations for each value of horizontal tension,
and the convergence improves with successive values of the horizontal tension. The
overall convergence, of the error function of the horizontal tension, is obtained in
seven iterations. Although the criterion used was more onerous, as it was based on
the changes divided by the allowable tension, the number of iterations is much less
than for the old method.

Conclusion
The paper has shown that the proposed Newton Raphson sag method for calculating
the sag in a conductor gives accurate results. It is particularly useful for conductors
supported at unequal heights as both the lowest point of the conductor and the
horizontal tension can be determined accurately. The method converges rapidly. It
gives sufficiently accurate results within three iterations and the exact value of
horizontal tension in seven iterations. The method is easy to program for solutions
using a computer and can be used for hand calculations.
The proposed new method is being incorporated as an alternative method for
determining conductor sag of overhead lines in a course on mechanical design of
overhead lines. It is easy to teach as it relies on linearisation of a nonlinear function
near a root.

References
1 A. T. Starr, Generation, Transmission and Utilization of Electrical Power, 4th edn (Pitman, London,
1957), pp. 61–64.
2 T. Gönen, Electric Power Transmission System Engineering, Analysis and Design (John Wiley,
Chichester, 1988), pp. 623–640.
3 D. Douglas, Sag-tension Calculations, A tutorial developed for the IEEE TP and C Line Design
Subcommittee, IEEE TP and C Subcommittee, June 2005.
4 F. Kiessling, P. Nefzger, J. F. Nolasco and U. Kaintyzyk, Overhead Power Lines Planning, Designing
and Construction (Springer, Berlin, 2003), pp. 539–570.
5 K. A. Stroud, Further Engineering Mathematics, 3rd edn (Macmillan, London, 1996), pp. 63–77.
6 P. Garrett, Newton’s Method, http://www.math/umn.edu/~garrett/qy/Newton.html (Applet, 1997).

International Journal of Electrical Engineering Education 45/4

Downloaded from ije.sagepub.com at PENNSYLVANIA STATE UNIV on September 16, 2016