Reference number : GC-2017-Q1-00297, amendment number : , agreement type : G, recipient legal name : Rideout, Donald (Memorial University of Newfoundland), recipient country : CA, recipient province : nan, recipient city : Newfoundland and Labrador|Terre-Neuve-et-Labrador, recipient postal code : nan, program name english : Collaborative Research and Development Grants - Project, program name french : Subventions de recherche et développement coopérative - projet, program purpose english : Nalcor Energy, Newfoundland and Labrador's largest power generation utility, currently maintains approximately 2400 km of wood pole transmission lines, consisting of approximately 26000 poles of varying ages. Wooden poles lose strength due to a number of factors such as aging, rot, and cyclical wetting or freezing.  It is essential to detect "danger poles" early to avoid safety hazards to inspection personnel, and to maximize the opportunity to apply corrective actions such as preservative treatment.  Low strength poles can fail during wind and ice loading, leading to cascade failure and extensive power outages.  On the other hand, prematurely removing a pole from service wastes energy, materials and money. Existing commercial non-destructive evaluation (NDE) equipment tends to overpredict strength of old poles, creating the risk of leaving danger poles in service for too long._x000D_
Nalcor Energy and Memorial University have an ongoing research program to develop new NDE methods based on modal impact testing.  Preliminary results show good correlation between damping ratios (as measured with a modal impact hammer under laboratory conditions) and strength in the laboratory.  The proposed phase of research will see testing of poles in the field, with the goal of improving the robustness of the method to real-world conditions.  Transmission line poles that are to be relocated will be subjected to modal testing, using portable field-test equipment, with and without conductors so that the effect of wires can be determined.  The poles will then be removed and transported to the laboratory for testing in a rigid clamp, to quantify and aid in modeling the effect of the foundation.  The poles will finally be destructively tested, with the destructive test results used to create prediction models based on vibration data.   Given that the number of such poles is approximately 170000 in Atlantic Canada and 2 million in North America, success in the research program will motivate development of versatile and portable test procedures and equipment for the commercial market._x000D_
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_x000D_, program purpose french : Nalcor Energy, Newfoundland and Labrador's largest power generation utility, currently maintains approximately 2400 km of wood pole transmission lines, consisting of approximately 26000 poles of varying ages. Wooden poles lose strength due to a number of factors such as aging, rot, and cyclical wetting or freezing.  It is essential to detect "danger poles" early to avoid safety hazards to inspection personnel, and to maximize the opportunity to apply corrective actions such as preservative treatment.  Low strength poles can fail during wind and ice loading, leading to cascade failure and extensive power outages.  On the other hand, prematurely removing a pole from service wastes energy, materials and money. Existing commercial non-destructive evaluation (NDE) equipment tends to overpredict strength of old poles, creating the risk of leaving danger poles in service for too long._x000D_
Nalcor Energy and Memorial University have an ongoing research program to develop new NDE methods based on modal impact testing.  Preliminary results show good correlation between damping ratios (as measured with a modal impact hammer under laboratory conditions) and strength in the laboratory.  The proposed phase of research will see testing of poles in the field, with the goal of improving the robustness of the method to real-world conditions.  Transmission line poles that are to be relocated will be subjected to modal testing, using portable field-test equipment, with and without conductors so that the effect of wires can be determined.  The poles will then be removed and transported to the laboratory for testing in a rigid clamp, to quantify and aid in modeling the effect of the foundation.  The poles will finally be destructively tested, with the destructive test results used to create prediction models based on vibration data.   Given that the number of such poles is approximately 170000 in Atlantic Canada and 2 million in North America, success in the research program will motivate development of versatile and portable test procedures and equipment for the commercial market._x000D_
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_x000D_, agreement title english : Modal impact testing for non-destructive evaluation of wood pole transmission lines, agreement title french : Modal impact testing for non-destructive evaluation of wood pole transmission lines, agreement number : CRDPJ, agreement value : 95338.0, agreement start date : 2017-04-25, agreement end date : nan, description english : nan, description french : nan, expected results english : nan, expected results french : nan, additional information english : Grant or Award spanning more than one fiscal year. (2017-2018 to 2021-2022), additional information french : Subvention ou bourse octroyée s'appliquant à plus d'un exercice financier. (2017-2018 à 2021-2022), owner organization : nserc-crsng, owner organization title : Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada | Conseil de recherches en sciences naturelles et en génie du Canada