Wireframe modeling of the vibration behavior of overhead conductors for energy transport

The present work aims to develop a model of a sample of overhead conductor under tensile-bending conditions for RTE. This model is to be used within a multi-scale method for the assessment of the remaining lifespan of overhead lines subjected to wind-induced fretting fatigue. The model is based on a quasi-static beam finite element formulation in large rotations. The implementation of the finite element model takes place in a custom finite element library in Matlab® to meet RTE's requirements. Contact interactions between the wires of the conductor are modeled using a small-sliding beam-to-beam contact formulation, which allows efficient modelling of the fretting interactions between the wires while still providing accurate results. Part of this work consists in adapting an existing small-sliding contact formulation for the Eulerian large rotations framework, ensuring frame objectivity and path independence, and in rewriting it using Lagrange multipliers instead of the penalty method to ensure precise enforcement of contact conditions. Special care is paid to the choice of boundary conditions to avoid edge effects that significantly alter the results of the simulation. Finally, the model is verified against analytical solutions and compared with other numerical models using more classical contact large-sliding formulations to ensure its accuracy and robustness.