Study on the fastening characteristics of preformed helical fittings considering the surface effect of transmission lines

Abstract Because of their superior mechanical properties, preformed helical fittings are widely used in UHV transmission lines. However, they easily slip and become loose under extreme environments, so it is very important to study the fastening characteristics of preformed helical fittings. According to the stress characteristics of preformed helical fittings, a parametric finite element model including a core and preformed armor rods was established. Finally, the finite element model calculation was verified by comparing it with the test results. In this paper, the influences of the preformed armor rod diameter, pitch, length and forming aperture on the fastening characteristics were investigated. The numerical simulation results showed that the smaller the forming aperture of preformed armor rods, the larger the grip force. However, a small forming aperture is inconvenient to install, and too large of a grip force on the core easily leads to core damage. With the increase in the preformed armor rod length, the grip force increased gradually and linearly, and the increase slowed after the pitch number reached 9. The larger the pitch, the smaller the grip force of the preformed helical fittings. The fastening characteristics of preformed armor rods with slightly larger diameters were better and the fourth power of the diameter of the preformed armor rods has a linear relationship with the grip force.