Stability analysis of transmission tower foundation on hill slope

In the Indian sub-continent, Himalayan region is often subjected to major earthquakes and landslides, putting important civil infrastructures such as, hospitals, power-plants, transmission towers, etc. at constant risk. To meet out the immutable electricity demand and supply, the construction of transmission towers in hilly regions has become necessary. This study offers a qualitative examination of the stability of a transmission tower foundation in the district of Hamirpur, Himachal Pradesh, India. The soil-structure interaction of the combined footing of a previously designed electricity transmission tower was modelled in to a half-space soil domain. The finite-element-analysis was carried out in ABAQUS/Standard-solver. The gravity load of the tower was applied on the foundation built on plain as well as sloping ground of 45° inclination. The structural parameters were evaluated in terms of displacement at the base of the foundation and stress values showing Tresca failure plane in the soil domain. The maximum ground settlement is found to be increased by 25% in the foundation resting on inclined ground, while the Tresca stress values are increased by 13.93% when compared with that in case of plain ground conditions. At last, the vulnerability of foundation on inclined over plain ground has been stated.