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Creep behaviour of High Temperature Low Sag conductors

G. PIROVANO*, F. MAZZARELLA A. POSATI, A. PICCININ, S. SCARIETTO

RSE S.p.A. Terna Rete Italia S.p.A.
Italy Italy

SUMMARY
The scenario resulting from the introduction of the free market of electric energy requires to increase
the power transferred by transmission lines and consequently to optimise the exploitation of the
existing grid, due to the difficulty to obtain permissions to build new lines [7].
The fastest and most effective solution to this problem is offered by reconductoring of existing lines
with High Temperature Low Sag (HTLS) conductors [8]. Materials and constructive characteristics
used for these conductors allow to increase the ampacity of the existing OHLs overcoming several
problems that a high operating temperature may produce on traditional conductors (AAC, AAAC,
ACSR, etc.) such as progressive decrease of mechanical strength and excessive thermal elongation
with consequent reduction of the clearances to ground.
The above aspect is particularly critical due to the fact that technical feasibility of reconductoring
allows minimum structural reinforcements on existing towers and requires an accurate design of
HTLS conductors because of very small deviations on loads are generally available for these
operations.
Particular materials used for the construction of these conductors allow to preserve their mechanical
characteristics, such as breaking load or corrosion resistance, up to high temperatures and to reduce
the coefficient of thermal expansion; moreover a correct design allows to keep under control both
elastic and thermal elongations.
Nevertheless also the permanent elongation taking place on conductors after installation influence
conductor clearance to ground. It depends on two phenomena: plastic elongation occurring between
EDS and maximum tension (related to heavy ice and/or wind conditions); creep elongation due to
long-time permanence in average operating conditions. The creep rate, related to stress and
temperature, comes from internal structural modifications of the materials and, among the metals used
in conductor construction, takes place mainly in aluminium and aluminium alloys.
As the short-time effects are easy to be quantified through a stress-strain test, it is more complicated to
measure the creep elongation and understand how the two phenomena influence each other.
Test procedures to measure the different contributions to permanent elongation of HTLS conductors
have been set-up and laboratory tests have been carried out on different types of conductors with the
aim to verify the theoretical model in literature and to define a procedure for a right computation of the
global permanent elongation in reconductoring projects with monometallic or bi-material HTLS
conductors.

KEYWORDS
Ampacity, creep, plastic elongation, geometrical settlement, HTLS conductors, reconductoring.
* giovanni.pirovano@rse-web.it
1. INTRODUCTION

It is well known that during the lifetime of an overhead transmission line, bare conductors show
temporary and permanent variations in length. The temporary elastic deformation derives from
changes in temperature and external loads (wind and/or ice sleeves) and can be easily taken into
account during the design of a line.
Permanent elongations are mainly due to three phenomena:
• geometrical settlement;
• plastic elongation;
• metallurgical creep.
The first one consists in a fast but moderate elongation taking place during the first increase of load, as
a result of internal rearrangement of wires, punctual deformations and redistribution of tension on the
single wires. As this elongation takes place almost completely during the stringing and sagging
operations, and not after the clamping of the conductor, it is possible to ignore this component.
On the other hand, plastic elongation and creep take place after clamping and must be properly taken
into account in order to ensure the respect of the minimum clearance from ground and from other
objects during the whole lifetime of the line.

1.1. Permanent elongation due to plasticity

The elastoplastic behaviour of any conductor can be easily understood from the results of the stress-
strain test, whose procedure is described in the Standard CEI EN 50182.
The measured data can be used to describe the nonlinear behaviour of a conductor by initial and final
curves for the complete conductor and the core, calculating from them the same curves for the outer
conductive layer (Figure 1).
The initial curve is the “virtual
stress-strain curve”, obtained as a
polynomial interpolating curve
for the strain points at the end of
load steps.
The final curve is the best-fit line
interpolating the part of the
experimental curve
corresponding to the decrease of
load from the 70% RTS step;
from the slope of the final curve
the elasticity modulus can be
calculated.

Figure 1 – Experimental and virtual stress-strain diagrams

for an ACSR 520-Al1/66-ST1A

Several software have been developed to simulate the elasto-plastic behaviour of monometallic or
bimetallic conductors, modelled through the polynomial coefficients of the initial and final curves of
core and outer strands (Figure 2). In this way it is possible to take into account the permanent
elongation occurring at the end of a load-unload cycle between the installation load (EDS = Every
Day Stress) and the maximum design load (MS = Maximum Stress).
Referring to Figure 3, this cycle is composed by an increase of stress AB on the initial curve and from
the decrease of stress BC on the final curve. At the end of this load cycle, only the elastic elongation is
regained, and the final length of the conductor is increased by a permanent plastic elongation

 
 
 .

1
Figure 2 – Virtual stress-strain diagrams and polynomial Figure 3 – Plastic elongation after a load cycle
coefficients for an ACSR 520-Al1/66-ST1A

1.2. Permanent elongation due to metallurgical creep

When any metal is subjected for an extended time to a mechanical static load (even below the elastic
limit), it presents a gradual increase in length that is a direct consequence of internal structural
changes.
The elongation rate and the metallurgical mechanisms involved depend on the dislocation movement
inside the crystal lattice structure and on the boundaries, diffusivity end plastic flows of material.
In the most general condition, three stages of creep can be identified:
• primary creep (logarithmic creep): fast low-energy elongation due to the dislocation glide,
with a decreasing rate caused by the hardening of the material;
• secondary creep: constant elongation at the minimum rate, due to the dynamic balance
between hardening and recovery of the material;
• tertiary creep: fast elongation bringing to the breakage due to the formation of sharp
microcracks and rounded microvoids (at the intersection of three crystals or adjacent to
inclusions), with the consequent reduction of mechanically resistance section.

Figure 4 – Creep diagrams

In literature (see [5]) there are maps representing the creep behaviour of several metallic materials
under different values of stress and temperature. For a more general description, normalised stresses
(ratio between working shear stress and shear modulus) and homologous temperatures (ratio between
working temperature and melting temperature) have been used on the graph axis. An increase of
temperature accelerates the glide of best-oriented dislocations and enables the movement of other
blocked at ambient temperature and, over a limit value, can generate diffusion mechanisms, recovery
or recrystalization.
2

Figure 5 – Ashby map for aluminium
Creep behaviour of any conductor might be
roughly understood from the working spot of every
component material in these graphics but, as the
graphics in literature are very general and drawn
for materials different in chemical composition and
manufacturing, it is impossible to come to accurate
results through them.
Concerning overhead line conductors, it must be
underlined that temperatures and loads never
bring to a third stage creep, but only to secondary
creep stage, without diffusion phenomena.
Therefore high values of stress and temperature
on the materials produce only an acceleration of
dislocation glide mechanism.
Referring to Figure 4, the typical behaviour is the
constant load with T=T1, typical for homologous
temperatures above 0,3.

T melting Tw / Tm= 0,3

°C K K °C
Aluminium and aluminium alloys 660 933 280 7
Invar and steel 1430 1703 511 238

Table 1 – Limit working temperature

Looking at the Table 1, if steel and Invar usually work with an homologous temperature lower than
0,3, aluminium and its alloys work above this limit; therefore conductors completely or partially
made by aluminium or aluminium alloys (AAC, AAAC, ACSR, ACSS, TACSR, TACIR, etc.) are
subjected to creep, with an elongation rate which depends on cross-section and load in each material.
Being a theoretical prediction of creep very complex, the evaluation of final elongation is usually
obtained as an extrapolation of experimental data (see par. 2.1) on single wires or complete conductors
realised with the same materials and design. According to CEI EN 61395 and to most of the papers in
literature, the easiest mathematical description of creep for a metallic wire or for a stranded conductor
is the power-law equation:
log
       ∙ log
where:

   is the elongation in % due to power law creep;
is the time (in hours);
, ,  are constants.
As for the stress-strain data, the measurements from one or more creep tests, performed at different
loads, can be used in order to obtain a creep curve for defined value of temperature and time. This
curve, as the stress-strain one, is usually described through a polynomial equation (Figure 6).

Figure 6 – Creep curve

3
Under the assumption of a creep-insensitive core, the creep curve of the outer layer can be calculated
subtracting the virtual stress-strain curve of the core from the creep curve of the complete conductor.

1.3. Non metallic and composite materials

As described in the previous paragraph, creep is properly known as a metallurgical phenomena

producing a permanent elongation of the whole conductor that depends on homologous temperature
and working load of each conductor material.
During the last years, the growing request of high-performances conductors is feeding a continuous
research of new materials with high tensile strength and low weight to be used in alternative to steel
and invar in conductor cores.
Nowadays the main technologies on the market are:
• Metallic Matrix Composite (MMC) wires;
• Polymeric Matrix Composite (PMC) wires (carbon fibres and/or glass fibres in polymeric
matrix);
• Polymeric wires.
The wide number of products does not allow to highline a general behaviour for these materials, but
even if the physical mechanisms are completely different from those taking place in metals, a
permanent elongation due to a long-time permanence at low loads is possible.
MMC wires (Al2O3 oxides in aluminium matrix) are subjected to a reduced creep, even if at high
temperature.
The behaviour of PMC wires should be similar, with a low elongation almost insensitive to the
temperature (up to the glass transition temperature of the matrix); but further data are necessary to
quantify the creep elongation (tests have been carried out at RSE laboratories at 160°C, above the
knee-point temperature, showing no elongation at all after the 1000 h creep test).
Polymeric wires are still under development, therefore at the present time it is impossible to generalise
the creep rate and its dependence from temperature and load.

2. EXPERIMENTAL TESTS
During the lifetime of an overhead line, a “load history” will occur, which is impossible to put forward
during the design phase. The best procedure is to define a maximum stress (MS), usually referred to
extreme ice and/or wind conditions, and an every-day stress (EDS) that will produce, respectively,
plastic and creep elongation. This sequence of loads can be simplified in two extreme cases:
a) a line subjected to MS during the first months after installation and to EDS for the rest of its
lifetime (Figure 7 - a);
b) a line subjected to EDS for all its lifetime and to MS during the last year (Figure 7 - b).

Figure 7 – Cases a) and b)

It must be clarified if any of the two phenomena is able to change the mechanical properties of a
conductor enough to influence the other one. With this aim a new procedure has been developed in
order to identify a methodology to take properly into account both the elongation phenomena during
the design phase of an overhead line.
4
2.1. Test procedure and data analysis

The test procedure described in this paper is widely compliant with the Standard CEI EN 61395 and
[1], prescribing test arrangement, test procedure and interpretation of results of non-interrupted creep-
testing of stranded conductors for overhead lines.
According to the Standard, load is gradually increased till the test value and hold for at least 1000 h,
measuring deformation and temperature.
With the aim to quantify the variation of long-time permanent elongation following an overload (case
a - Figure 7), the procedure has been corrected performing the test on two samples:
1) standard creep test at 20% RTS after a preload at 50% RTS for 24 hours;
2) standard creep test at 20% RTS.

In this way it is possible to compare the behaviour between a "new" conductor and a "pre-conditioned"
one (i.e. a conductor that already had a high-load permanence). The test should be repeated at different
temperatures, in order to identify the dependence from this parameter.
The 50% RTS load used in the preload phase is compliant with the maximum design load prescribed
in the Italian Standard CEI 11-4:1998-09 for the design of overhead lines(1), to be respected in the
following conditions:
• temperature -5 °C and wind 130 km/h for South Italian territory under 800 m above sea level;
• temperature of -20°C, wind of 65 km/h and ice coating (density 0,92 kg/dm2; thickness
12mm) for North Italian territory and South Italian territory over 800 m above sea level.

As described above, after a first nonlinear part (due not only to metallurgical creep, but also to
geometrical settlement and other phenomena), the creep can be interpolated by the above mentioned
power-law equation between  and  (Figure 8):

Figure 8 – Creep modelling

High correlation coefficient for the linear interpolation of the bi-logarithmic diagram can be
obtained with a selection of measured data with the same number of values between 1h and 10h,
10h and 100h, 100h and 1000h.
It is necessary to define carefully the limit  because data from the non linear region of the
curve must be rejected for a correct long-time extrapolation: taking into account too many
data of the first part of the test, the slope of the line can wrongly increase.
According to [1], the rejected values should be taken up to 10% of the test time (or 100h). Due to
different rates of elongation for any type of conductor, the interpolation range can be defined only
time to time, choosing the best range in order to ignore non acceptable values.
With the obtained power law equation it is possible to extrapolate the creep elongation at the final life
of the line ( ≫  , usually 10÷40 years). In order to calculate correctly the increase of the installation
load for the creep compensation, the permanent elongation before clamping (   in Figure 8) has to
be subtracted to the final life value.

(1)
A new Standard is currently in phase of introduction, but the compliance remains. Lines designed for extreme
loads, not contemplated by the Standards, can be subjected to loads up to 66% RTS.

5
 The short-time permanent elongation
before clamping, due not only to
metallurgical creep, but also to non-
linear effects of settlement and
punctual plastic deformation of wires
of different layers, can be calculated
as interpolation of the lower part of
the curve.

In this case, a logarithmic

interpolation is suggested (Figure 9).

Figure 9 – Logarithmic interpolation at short time

2.2. Test set-up

In order to comply with the test procedure above described, a dedicated test set-up has been studied
and realized at the RSE mechanical laboratory in Brugherio (close to Milan, Italy).
For the execution of creep tests at different temperatures, controlled DC current generators have been
used. Depending on the size of the conductors and of the relevant required temperatures, values of
current up to 3 kA (and more) can be applied by connecting, in parallel, different DC generators. The
choice of the use of DC current allows to minimize the impedance of the circuit (avoiding the need to
compensate the reactance of the circuit, by capacitors or by reconfiguring the test circuit) and at the
same time allows to avoid the adoption of complicated circuit solutions to mitigate the magnetic fields
produced by the alternated currents.
As a consequence of the possible use of large conductor diameters and of high values of current, it was
decided to carry out creep tests by using the compression dead end clamps for the installation in
service. In this way it is in fact guaranteed a uniform distribution of the current density inside the
conductor for the entire length of the sample under test.
On the other hand, since the use of compression clamps may produce birdcaging of the outer layers of
the conductor (and of the core, if it exists), compression clamps are realized by crimping the
aluminium (and steel) sleeves in the direction away from the span. Furthermore, in order to reduce
possible residual influence of the dead end compression clamps, the minimum sample length has been
established, as described above, at 50 times the conductor diameter.
Creep tests are carried out on couples of conductor samples carrying the same current and at the same
temperature. In order to control the injected current, conductor temperature is measured with three
thermocouples placed along the samples; but in order to get a better tuning of the temperature, the
current generators (connected in a master-slave configuration, in which one device pilots the others in
parallel) are driven by the electrical resistance of the conductor under test, measured at the selected
temperature for the test.
(
Elongations of the conductor are measured by displacement sensors connected to stainless steel bars 2),
with a length of 10 m, connected to the central part of the conductors under test. This length, greater
than the minimum length required by said CEI EN standard, allows a better evaluation of the average
conductor elongation with respect to the reference bars.

2.3. Test results

A test campaign is currently in progress with the aim to define the mutual influence of plastic
elongation and creep elongation at several values of load, preload and temperature for non
conventional conductors used in reconductoring activities.

(2)
Another possibility consists in the use of couples of displacements transducers (for each conductor sample),
rigidly connected to the ground of the test laboratory.

6
As a first step, the change of creep rate following a preload stage has been studied for conductors
made by Aluminium-Zirconium Alloy AT3 (or ZTAL) conductive wires and Aluminium Clad Invar
core (ACI).

Inner layer Outer layer Outer layer

Section
Conductor Section Section section
(mm2) Material Material
(mm2) (mm2) percentage
A 510,22 ACI 191,25 AT3 318,97 63%
B 306,94 ACI 58,07 AT3 248,87 81%
C 160,74 ACI 23,33 AT3 137,41 85%

Table 2 – Tested conductors

The AT3-ACI technology is the most widely installed in the Italian Transmission Grid for
reconductoring projects, because AT3 alloy ensures a mechanical resistance similar to the hard drawn
aluminium up to the maximum operating temperature, invar core has little thermal dilatation and no
extra device or caution for installation and maintenance is necessary, respect to ACSR conductors (the
standard solution on Italian Grid). At the end of 2013, around 3300 km of AT3-ACI and AT2-ACI
conductors are installed by Terna.
The test has been applied to the conductors listed in Table 2, in the condition and with the
interpolating equation reported in Table 3. An example of curve fitting is reported in
Figure 10.

      ∙   Creep

Conductor Test Preload Load Temperature after 40 years
a b !"#⁄#$
-3
A1 24h @ 50%RTS 2,96 e 1,00 e-1 110
A 20% RTS 23°C -3 -1
A2 - 1,44 e 3,02 e 680
-3 -1
B1 24h @ 50%RTS 2,65 e 1,27 e 130
B 20% RTS 18°C
B2 - 3,82 e-3 2,16 e-1 600
-3 -1
C1 24h @ 50%RTS 1,70 e 2,18 e 270
C 20% RTS 27°C -3 -1
C2 - 1,89 e 2,55 e 490

Table 3 – Test results

7
 Figure 10 – Interpolation of test results (samples B1 and B2)
3. THE CALCULATION OF PERMANENT ELONGATION

As reported in the previous chapters, plastic elongation is caused by high loads for a short time while
creep is due to an extended permanence at moderate loads. In the design phase, both of the phenomena
must be properly taken into account, with a methodology dependent on the typology of conductor.
As a first step, it is necessary to examine separately the cases of monometallic conductors and
conductors composed of different materials (metallic or not).

3.1. Monometallic conductors

If the conductor is monometallic, the elongation behaviour is simpler to be analysed, as it depends

only on metallurgical and mechanical properties of the metallic wires (excluding the wires settlement
of the first, non-linear part of the experimental curves).
In [4], the complete permanent deformation of an aluminium wire at the moment t* is described as a
function of the time and of load history (from a time 0 to the time t*):


&  ∗ , ∗ 
from whom derives the elongation variation:
)
)

(
 ∙ (&  ∙ (
)& )
The first term of this equation is the plastic “instantaneous” elongation, the second is the creep one. As
a simplification, it is possible to assume that both the terms depend exclusively on the elongation
history, whence:
(
 * +&,
 ∗ , ∙ (&  * +&,
 ∗ , ∙ (
It means that elongation for any - ∗ depends only on the acting stress & and from the starting
elongation
 ∗ .
Therefore in [4] it is assumed that two aluminium wires with the same elongation (independently from
its origin), if subjected to the same load will show the same creep elongation or the same plastic
elongation.
It is possible to draw an elongation diagram with elongation on x axis and plastic and creep elongation
on the two sides of the y axis.

Figure 11 – Superimposition of the effects ([4]) Figure 12 – Elongation graphic for AAC ([4])

8
Referring to Figure 11, the elongation
. can be reached through a permanence of about 30 hours at 6
kg/mm2 (AB) or through a load cycle between 6 kg/mm2 and 9 kg/mm2 (ACB). If in condition B there
is an increase of load, the elongation of the wires proceed on the final curve BC and on initial curve
CF.
This behaviour has been confirmed (see [4]) by the measurements of the test fields on several samples
of aluminium wires.
This complete superimposition of the effects for plastic and creep elongations is valid not only for
single aluminium wires, but also for AAC conductors.

Under these assumptions, it is possible to simulate cases a and b from Figure 7 in the graph of Figure
12.
In case a simulation, a conductor is subjected to an overload stress (&/ ) followed by a long time
permanence at EDS (& ).
The conductor is installed in condition A and the load is increased till &/ (point G), and reduced to &
(point H). From this condition the permanence for 20 years at &/ starts, terminating in B, with a final
elongation that is expressed by the condition C. The complete elongation of the conductor during its
lifetime is AC. The same effect could be produced by an overload at the stress &0 , in the load cycle
ADC.
In case b simulation, a conductor is subjected to a long time permanence at EDS (& ) and an overload
stress (&/ ) at the end of its lifetime.
The conductor is installed in condition A and the load is maintained at the constant value &/ for 20
years, producing a creep elongation AC. According to [4], being the point C outside the virtual stress-
strain curve, describing the plastic elongation, an increase of load produce the elastic deformation on
the final curve from C to M.
The final elongation is not influenced by the sequence with which the loads take place nor by the
origin of the permanent elongation, but only from the value of the produced deformations.
Referring again to Figure 12, the cases described above had a &/  &0 , where &0 is the virtual
overload producing a permanent elongation equivalent to the 20 years permanence at & . If the design
maximum load condition is &1 - &0 , after the load cycle the condition of the conductor is F. This
value of elongation is higher than the creep one of point B, and is equivalent to point E on the creep
curve (a permanence longer than 30 years). Being the plastic deformation higher than the creep
deformation, the 20 years permanence at &2 should not produce any extra elongation in the conductor.
Therefore the conclusion of [4] for AAC is that the elongation to be taken into account in the design of
an overhead line is the higher between the plastic and the creep. This method is also used by software
programmes as PLS-CADD(C) or SAG 10(C).

In [1], chapter 5, a practical procedure for the calculation of permanent elongation of conductors is
given. With this method, once a complete mathematical model of the conductor has been calibrated by
several tests, it is possible to iteratively calculate creep contributions due to any combination of
operating conditions in terms of time, stress and temperature.
According to [1], appendix A3, it can be assumed with a good approximation that the complete
elongation of a conductor is not dependent on the load history (the sequence of operating conditions)
that could be hypothesized in the design of a line, but only on the integrated values of elongation.
Referring to Figure 13, if the stress is maintained to value & for a time  and then increased to the
value & , the computation of the creep elongation must start since the deformation
 reached
at time  , corresponding to the equivalent time 34 of permanence at & .

Conclusions of [4] and [1] regarding the dependence of the creep elongation from the only starting
elongation (point B in Figure 11, teq in Figure 13) and the independence from the load sequence are
perfectly in compliance.
The difference between the two methods is the mode for the addiction of the plastic “instantaneous”
elongation to the creep one.

9
 Figure 13 – Independence of creep from load history (from [1])

It is necessary to underline that it should be actually impossible to conceptually separate the plastic
deformation from the creep one at a same load, because the first is only a part of the second. In other
words, plastic deformation is the name given to the fast creep taking place in the first moments of
permanence at a given load. If the virtual stress-strain curves are drawn according to the procedure
described in the Standard CEI EN 50182, keeping the loads for 1h at the load steps, the effect is to
rename the 1h creep elongation as a plastic elongation.

Under this point of view, the procedure described in [1] can be extended to plastic loads, calculating
the equivalent time necessary for the addiction of the creep elongations for any of the load-
temperature-time design condition supposed. The real time of this permanence at MS is not important,
because the teq from which starting to calculate the creep elongation can be obtained only from the
plastic deformation value and from the creep curves on with it should be projected (EDS condition in
Figure 14).

Figure 14 – Plastic and creep elongation addition

With this procedure, it can be observed that the higher is the plastic deformation, the higher is the
equivalent time and, consequently, the lower is the creep elongation (same time, but translated to right
on a curve with decreasing slope).
It means that, contrarily to the conclusions of [4], even if the plastic deformation is higher than the
creep deformation, the second one must be added. This creep elongation is not the creep from 0 to
tcreep, but the one calculated from teq to (teq+ tcreep). The conclusions of [4] become acceptable under a
first approximation for high plastic deformation, when teq becomes very high and the creep
deformation to be added becomes negligible, or for high values of tcreep.
Referring to the above described test procedure, the higher is the plastic behaviour of the material
and/or the preload and the higher is the reduction of creep rate of the preloaded conductor.

10
From a metallurgical point of view, the equivalence of the effects of plastic and creep elongations,
different sides of the same permanent elongation, lets to affirm that the “damages” in the crystal lattice
structure produced by a fast load cycle and a long time permanence at little loads are completely
equivalent.
In [4] it is stated that a pronounced plastic deformation produces a dislocation grid (hardening) able to
block the low-energy movement and generation of the other dislocations; the assumption of the same
nature of plastic and creep elongation brings to the conclusion that a mechanical shock is able only to
decelerate the creep rate, with a reduction compliant with the equivalent time method exposed in [1].

The test procedure

described in the previous
chapter has been issued
with the aim to verify this
theory.
In order to calculate the
correct value of
permanent elongation be
taken into account to
prevent an excessive
increase of sags during
the overhead line life, the
elongation taking place
before clamping must be
Figure 15 – Calculation of permanent elongation subtracted (Figure 15).

The pre-clamping deformation is the elongation due to the permanence of the conductor at the
regulation time on wheels (10÷24h) and can calculated as logarithmic interpolation of the
experimental data of the creep test in the first non-linear stage. This value takes into account the
whole elasto-plastic elongation &506 and the all non-linear effects of wires settlement.
After this stage, the conductor is clamped, fixing the installation length and the starting elongation for
the calculation (point A). As the final elongation is independent by the load sequence, it is possible to
add the instantaneous plastic deformation AB, whose value is the plastic elongation due to the load
cycle between EDS and MS (measured at EDS stress). From the elongation of point B, the teq can be
calculated through the power law describing the higher part of the creep behaviour. The material
condition in B is the same that in C and, from this moment the creep can be calculated for the
prescribed lifetime of the line, till point D.
The complete elongation to be taken into account through an increase of load is the value

7893: <7=>?@A 
0 
 .

Experimental tests performed on AAAC (AT2) with a procedure similar to that described above let to
observe that:
• a preloaded sample has a creep rate lower than a new sample;
• teq is lower than 500 h and, consequently, if the design creep time is 40 years, the extra-creep
to be taken in account (from t=350000 h to t=350500 h) is completely negligible;
• the difference between the elongation of the non-preloaded conductor after 40 years and the
sum of the plastic and the creep elongation of the preloaded conductor is lower than 1%.
For the particular values of design creep time (40 years), temperature (60°C) and loads (20-60% RTS)
used for this test, the method proposed in [4] and the method described above are both acceptable for
AAAC (AT2).

3.2. Multimaterial conductors

A multimaterial conductor is composed by conductive metallic wires (aluminium or aluminium alloy)

stranded over an internal core with the main task to increase the mechanical resistance (steel, Fe-Ni
alloys, non metallic materials) of the whole rod.
11
If the conductive wires behaviour is the one exposed in the previous paragraph, the presence of a core
requires a modelling of the mechanical interaction of the two elements.
Both the plastic and the creep elongations bring to a permanent elongation of conductive wires and to
an elastic elongation of the core that, in first approximation, can be described as perfectly elastic and
insensitive to creep. Under this last assumption, a mathematical model was issued in [4], chapter 5, in
order to calculate the behaviour of an ACSR from the design elastic parameters (elasticity modulus
and sections of steel and aluminium) and from the creep curve for aluminium wires. With this method
the independence of the final elongation from the load history, exposed for monometallic conductors,
is maintained.
Both the phenomena work reducing the stress on conductive wires and increasing the percentage of
load on the core, till the limit case of transition point, when the whole charge is supported by the core.
For values of load behind this point, there is no stress on conductive layers and, thus, no creep
elongation.
The behaviour of any conductor is strongly influenced by the repartition of load on conductive wires
and core and, consequently, also the method to be used for the computation of the final elongation of
the conductor changes dependently on this balance of loads.
Conductors with conductive layer made by annealed aluminium (as ACSS) show very low transition
temperature and, after a load cycle between EDS and MS, usually work beyond the knee-point. In this
case, the plastic elongation is able to completely stop the creep by zeroing the strain on the aluminium.
On the other hand, an overload on conductors with hard drawn aluminium or aluminium alloys usually
does not produce a plastic elongation sufficient to completely unload the conductive layer, but only a
partial decrease of load, dependent by the conductive section percentage.

As shown by the test results on AT3-ACI conductors, the lower is the conductive section percentage
(Table 4 – column 3), the higher is the decrease of load on conductive layer (Table 4 – column 6) and,
consequently, the higher is the reduction of the creep rate of the complete conductor (Table 4 –
column 8). The load repartition between core and outer layer is represented in Figure 16 (data referred
to conductor B).
Creep elongation after 40 years is also compared with the plastic elongation calculated on initial and
final curves for a load cycle between 20% RTS and 50% RTS (Table 4 – column 7).

Figure 16 – Load repartition on samples B1 and B2

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 Outer layer Decrease of Plastic
Outer layer Creep
20% RTS load at load in outer elongation
Sample Preload section after 40 years
[daN] 20%RTS layer 20÷50% RTS
[%] !"#⁄#$
[daN (%)] [%] !"#⁄#$
A1 Yes 133 (3%) 690 110
63% 4778 90%
A2 No 1284 (27%) - 680
B1 Yes 677 (34%) 653 130
81% 1974 41%
B2 No 1147 (58%) - 600
C1 Yes 478 (58%) 503 270
85% 825 17%
C2 No 575 (70%) - 490

Table 4 – Load repartition and 40-years creep on bimetallic samples

Although in literature it is argued that the permanent elongation of a bimetallic conductor, as for a
monometallic one, corresponds to the maximum between plastic and creep elongation, the test results
(see Table 4 and Figure 17, as an example) show that the preloaded samples are still subjected to a
non-negligible creep despite that plastic elongations are higher than creep ones on new samples.

Figure 17 – Long-term elongation for conductor B

The conclusion above brings to the necessity to develop a mathematical relationship between the
complete conductor, whose description through a power low creep could be incorrect, and the outer
layer, that can be modelled with sufficient approximation with the model described in 3.1.

As a first attempt, this relationship was searched directly on the creep curves of the three conductors,
but the limited number of samples and the different stresses acting on the outer layers during the
permanence under load excluded a simple correlation between the creep curves and, consequently, a
simple and reliable method for an extrapolation of the creep behaviour for any conductor made of AT3
and ACI wires (at the same temperature).

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4. CONCLUSIONS AND NEXT STEPS

A permanent deformation does not depend on the load sequence, but only on the starting permanent
elongation of conductive materials; therefore the final elongation of a conductor for any load history
can be studied from a case of a conductor subjected to the design overload and, afterwards, to several
creep stages (with different values of time, temperature and load).

Under this assumption, plastic and creep elongations of monometallic conductors (AAC or AAAC)
can be added with the method of the equivalent time, exposed in par. 3.1.
In many cases, due to the long lifetime of OHLs, instantaneous overloads and short permanence at
high temperature bring to permanent elongations equivalent to little values of teq, with no relevant
change in the final elongation respect to the only creep elongation. In these cases the final permanent
elongation of a monometallic conductor can be estimated as the only creep elongation.

Under the approximation of bi-material conductors with creep-insensitive cores, the final elongation of
the conductor depends on the creep behaviour of conductive layer (material and stress) and on the
elastic behaviour of the core.
If conductive layer is made of annealed aluminium, a load cycle can reduce to zero the stress,
deactivating the creep phenomena through the complete transfer of load to the core; therefore if the
load of the long permanence condition is inferior to the transition point it is possible to assume that the
final permanent elongation is the only plastic deformation due to the load cycle between EDS and MS.
If the load cycle does not unload the conductive layer, as the common case of conductive layers made
of hard drawn aluminium or aluminium alloys, the creep rate is decreased but not zeroed. The lower is
the cross-section percentage of conductive layer, the higher is the reduction of creep rate.
The prediction of the final permanent elongation can be obtained only through a mathematical model
linking the conductor elongation to the repartition of loads between core and conductive layer and to
the permanent deformations occurring in conductive layer (for any value of stress and temperature).
A simple relationship based on stress-strain and creep curves is not possible.
A mathematical model was developed in [4], chapter 5, for ACSR conductors at room temperature.
A test campaign is currently ongoing in order to obtain enough data for a validation of this method for
HTLS conductors, firstly at room temperature, secondly extending the research at different
temperatures.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

[1] Working Group SC 22-05 CIGRE. “Permanent elongation of conductors. Predictor equations
and evaluation methods” (Electra number 75, October 1985, pages 63-98)
[2] C. Pramaggiore “Conduttori nudi e linee elettriche aeree” (Industrie Grafiche Italiane Stucchi,
1956)
[3] E. Bagalà “Assestamento di conduttori alluminio-acciaio per linee a 220kV” (Industrie Grafiche
Italiane Stucchi, 1954)
[4] E. Comellini “L’assestamento dei conduttori delle linee elettriche aeree” (L’Energia Elettrica
number 7, 1964)
[5] M.F. Ashby, H.J. Frost “Construction of Transient Maps and Structure Maps” (Cambridge
University Engineering Department Report, 1976)
[6] P.F. Winkelman “Sag-Tension Computations and Field Measurements of Bonneville Power
Administration” (AIEE Paper 59-900, 1959)
[7] L. Paris, B. Cauzillo, G. Pirovano, C. Sabelli, M. Rebolini, G. Bruno: “I limiti di portata in
corrente delle linee aeree nella conduzione del sistema elettrico” (L’Energia Elettrica n.4,
Luglio-Ottobre 2005).
[8] E. Di Bartolomeo, G. Bruno, S. Tricoli, S. L. Chiarello, G. Pirovano , D. Mezzani - "Increasing
capacity by monitoring environmental conditions, conductors temperature or by using high-
temperature conductors" (CIGRE Session 2008, Paris, 2008).

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