Resilience of Electric Power Substation Equipment is Focus of Latest MCEER-Industry Studies
Bonneville Power Administration and California Energy Commission Provide $1.2 M in Support
Substations are critical components of electrical transmission systems, which should remain operational following a disaster.
MCEER researchers are working on a series of studies supported by $1.2 million from the Bonneville Power Administration (BPA) and the California Energy Commission (CEC). The research is part of MCEER’s thrust area on infrastructure systems and public policy. It 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. A project advisory committee comprising industry participants will provide continuing guidance to the research program. Individual projects will focus on the following:
- Evaluation and Improvement of Substation Equipment, specifically transformers – to include 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 – to 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 – to develop and execute a multi-year research program to improve seismic protection of substation equipment through development of advanced methods for protecting substation equipment. This project is funded by BPA.
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