The future of towers made of organic compound materials

Abstract

Reliability of a transmission structure depends not only upon its design, but also on the development of structural arrangement, detailing of connections, uniformity of quality of structural sections, accurate fabrication, and finally material type and quality. Recently fiber reinforced polymer composites (FRP), or advanced organic materials are very attractive for use in transmission line towers. FRP composites have many benefits to their selection and use. The selection of the materials depends on the performance and intended use of the product. The composites designer can tailor the performance of the end product with proper selection of materials. This paper aims to investigate the future of towers made of organic material. Comparative study with the conventional type commonly used in Egypt will be carried out. Also the economic studies were performed to estimate the level of profitability for both technical options of steel and FRP distribution networks.