Porcelain insulators have been used mainly for power line fixing and electrical insulation in transmission towers. Porcelain insulators have generally a 30 years desired life, but over 50% exceed their life expectancy. Since the damage to porcelain insulators is usually accompanied by enormous loss of human resource material, their efficient maintenance has emerged as an important issue. In this regard, this study applied a frequency response function (FRF) for integrity assessment of the insulator. The characteristics of the FRF according to damage types were identified and analyzed by the change in natural frequencies, curve shape, attenuation, and Nyquist diagram stability. The results showed significant differences in the FRF according to damage types, which can be used as basic data for the effective integrity assessment of porcelain insulators.
