Optimal Design of Steel Transmission Poles

Abstract

Design of steel transmission poles is formulated as an optimization problem by identifying design variables, a cost function, and constraints. Nonlinearities in structural response calculations due to large deflections are included in the formulation. An example problem available in the literature is solved and the solution is compared with the published one. Several other cases of the example are solved to investigate the effect of certain parameters on optimal design as well as to show the flexibility of the optimal design process. Based on the results of this study, it is concluded that the optimal design process can give more economic designs compared to the conventional design process. Once the optimal design problem is formulated and implemented into a software, many variations in the problem conditions and parameters can be studied in a relatively short time, which can lead to better designs.