How can we enhance the resilience of transmission towers against extreme weather events through advanced engineering simulation and structural optimization?

 

Climate change has increased both the frequency and intensity of extreme winds and severe storms, creating growing structural risks for power transmission lines. Towers designed based on historical environmental conditions may no longer adequately represent the new climate regime, increasing the probability of overloads, unexpected failures, and even cascading collapses following conductor breakage.

This new reality demands advanced solutions capable of predicting the structural behavior of transmission towers under increasingly extreme climatic conditions, ensuring greater resilience, safety, and operational continuity.

We are seeking partners to collaboratively develop, alongside a university that owns the underlying research model, an advanced engineering software solution for the optimization of transmission tower designs. The solution should enable optimal design for manufacturing and assembly across the entire family of transmission towers while ensuring structural resistance to the climatic conditions of the installation region.

The software must also support collapse simulations, reliability assessments, and dynamic analyses of complete transmission line sections, enabling more accurate design decisions and risk mitigation strategies.

The development effort will be conducted jointly with AXIA Energia and the university. AXIA Energia will provide the development environment and engineering practices, while the university will contribute specialized technical expertise and research knowledge.

Minimum Requirements

Companies interested in participating in this challenge must meet all of the following requirements:

• Be a software development company with proven experience in engineering projects, preferably within structural, civil, mechanical, or electromechanical environments.
• Maintain operations or a working structure in a time zone compatible with Brazil to enable continuous collaboration with project teams.
• Demonstrate the capability and availability to collaborate with a university in an applied research and technology development environment.
• Explicitly agree to the complete transfer of intellectual property rights of the developed product to AXIA Energia.
• Possess a qualified technical team capable of developing mission-critical engineering solutions.

Technical Evaluation Criteria

a) Technical Experience

• Proven track record in engineering software development.
• Previous projects involving modeling, structural simulation, or advanced engineering analyses.
• Experience developing mission-critical applications.

b) Modeling and Simulation Capabilities

• Knowledge and practical application of Finite Element Methods (FEM).
• Experience with dynamic, nonlinear, and structural reliability analyses.
• Capability to perform progressive failure and structural collapse simulations.

c) Electric Power Sector Knowledge

• Experience with, or familiarity in, transmission lines, lattice towers, or similar structures.
• Knowledge of applicable technical standards such as ABNT, IEC, IEEE, ASCE, or equivalent frameworks.

d) Artificial Intelligence, Software Architecture, and Engineering

• Proposal of a modular, scalable, and well-documented software architecture.
• Ability to integrate with CAD, CAE, and other engineering systems.
• Adoption of software development best practices, including testing and version control.
• Compliance with the software development standards established by AXIA Energia’s Centers of Excellence (CoEs) and IT teams. The company must demonstrate expertise in:
  • Python
  • Angular
  • C#
  • .NET
  • MATLAB
  • Cloud technologies, preferably Google Cloud Platform (GCP)

e) Organizational and Project Management Criteria

• Mature organizational structure and capability to execute medium- and long-term projects.
• Demonstrated experience managing complex engineering projects.
• Availability of a dedicated project team.
• Ability to meet jointly established schedules, technical milestones, and deliverables.

Strategic Evaluation Criteria (Desirable)

The following aspects will be considered differentiators, although they are not mandatory:

• Use of advanced computational optimization techniques.
• A long-term vision for evolving the software into a benchmark solution for the transmission industry.
• Company headquarters located in Brazil's North, Northeast, or Central-West regions.

Submission Deadline

The proposal submission form will remain available until March 31, 2026.

 

Questions

For questions or additional information, please send an email and include the title of this Challenge in the subject line to innovationgrid@axia.com.br.

 

 

Structural Optimization | Finite Element Method (FEM) Simulation | Climate Resilience and Extreme Wind Analysis | Power Transmission Towers | Structural Reliability Analysis | Progressive Collapse Simulation | Engineering Software Development | Artificial Intelligence for Engineering Applications