Impulse Time Method of Sag Measurement

Sometime in the last century, two people, P. R. Overend and S. Smith, collaborated on a
procedure for finding the sag in a suspended wire using a stop watch. (Their original paper is
not available. References to it are limited to their names.) The procedure is remarkable in that
the results are independent of the wire material, span length, wire tension, or temperature.
The only requirement is that the wire not have anything laying on it and should be simply
supported (no dead end hardware, etc.) Since the original paper is lost, weve recreated the
derivation of the equations.
Two equations for sag based on pulse timing are presented below, along with sag tables
calculated from them.
Derivation of the Sag Table Equations
The parabolic sag equation is S = w x L
2
/ (8 x T)
S is mid-span sag, in feet, w is wire weight, in pounds per foot, L is span length, in feet, and T
is wire tension, in pounds.
Pulse speed is V = (T x g / w)
1/2

V is in feet per second, T is wire tension, in pounds, g is gravitational acceleration, 32.2 feet
per second per second. (g and w appear because the speed depends on mass, not weight.)
The pulse return time equation is RT = 2 x N x L / V
RT is in seconds, N is the count of reflected pulses, L is span length, in feet, and V is pulse
speed.
We can now generate the sag via pulse time equations.
Take the span length from the return time expression [L = V x RT / (2 x N)] and substitute it in
the parabolic sag equation.
Take the tension from the pulse speed expression (T = w x V
2
/ g) and substitute it in the
parabolic sag equation.
Now simplify the resulting expression and rearrange it to solve for RT. This will give you:
RT = N x 0.99689 x (sag)
2
and, sag (in feet) = [RT / (0.99689 x N)]
2

0.99689 = (32 / 32.2)
1/2

The parabolic sag equation can be modified to give the sag in inches with this change:
S = 12 x w x L
2
/ (8 x T)
The same substitution steps will result in this form:
RT = 2 x N (sag / 48.3)
1/2
and, sag (in inches) = 48.3 x [RT / (2 x N)]
2

48.3 = 1.5 x 32.2

Procedure
Dead Line
At one end of the span, jerk or strike the wire and start the watch, feeling the wire, count
return pulses, preferably 3 or 5; more if possible. Stop the watch at the arrival of your last
counted pulse.
Hot line
At one end of the span, jerk the wire with a light insulated cord and start the watch, with light
tension on the cord, count and time as above.
Repeat the procedure two or three times and average the result. Look up the time in the
following tables and read the sag in feet and inches or decimal feet.



Denis DeVries, P.E.
May 4, 2011