Modelling icing growth on overhead transmission lines: Current advances and future directions

The increasing impact of climate change raises concerns regarding the vulnerability of overhead transmission lines to ice disasters. To address this issue, this study reviews icing growth modelling in two categories: physical-driven models (PDMs) and data-driven models (DDMs), covering current advances and future directions. First, PDMs are summarised, focusing on the thermodynamic and fluid mechanics mechanisms. Existing PDMs are compared based on principles, analysing their advantages, disadvantages, and challenges faced. Second, the summarisation of DDMs involves four aspects: data preparation, algorithm selection, model training, and model evaluation. In data preparation, techniques such as preprocessing methods are reviewed to handle multisource data. In algorithm selection, various modelling algorithms are compared and analysed, from basic to deep learning approaches. In model training, processes are summarised to enhance practical applicability, including data partitioning, hyperparameter adjustment, generalisation capability, and model interpretability. In model evaluation, the predictive capabilities are analysed, covering both regression and classification tasks. Subsequently, based on the analyses, a comparison of PDMs and DDMs across various aspects is presented. Finally, future directions in icing growth modelling are outlined. The aim is to enhance icing assessment by understanding the underlying mechanism in attempt to reduce vulnerability and ensure reliability against adverse weather conditions.