Experimental investigation and analytically modeling of hysteretic behavior of rigid bus-flexible connectors of 220 kV electrical substations

This paper describes the quasi-static testing and analytical modelling of the hysteretic behavior of aluminum alloy rigid bus-flexible connectors of 220 kV electrical substations.The main objective of the study is to experimentally investigate the hysteretic behavior of six different types of rigid bus-flexible connectors 220 kV electrical substations when subjected to cyclic loading.Another objective is to theoretically study the flexibility and effectiveness of a previously proposed analytical model in fitting the experimental hysteresis loops of the tested rigid bus-flexible connectors.The experimental investigation indicates that the tested rigid bus-flexible connectors exhibit highly asymmetric hysteresis behavior along with tension stiffening effect.The theoretical study demonstrates that the generalized Bouc-Wen model has high flexibility and is effective in fitting the experimental hysteresis resisting force-displacement curves of the six tested rigid bus-flexible connectors.