Abstract
Due to the increase of power demand and lack of new infrastructure, existing overhead power transmission lines often need to operate at temperatures higher than the original design criteria. However, this had led to the accelerated aging and degradation of splice connectors, which has been manifested by the formation of hot-spots that have been revealed by infrared imaging during inspection. The implications of connector aging is two-fold: (1) significant increase in resistivity of the splice connector (i.e., less efficient transmission of electricity) and (2) significant reduction in the connector clamping strength, which ultimately results in separation of the power transmission line at the joint. Therefore, the splice connector has become the weakest link in the electric power transmission infrastructure. This paper presents a protocol of integrating analytical and experimental approaches for evaluating the integrity of a full tension single-stage splice connector assembly.
