Article,
Criticality of Gust Pressures on the Members of Self Standing Towers
ACEE International Journal on Civil and Environmental Engineering, 1 (1): 5 (February 2011)
Abstract
Tall latticed steel towers are being pursued for the
purpose of microwave transmission, T.V. transmission etc.
Antennas are fixed at the top of the tower for transmission.
The height of the towers may range from 50m to 250m. The
structural form consists of latticed steel work, suitable bracing
and suitable foundation for the tower legs. Usually bolted
connections are provided for the joints. Mainly dead and wind
loads are considered for the design of such towers. The I.S.
Code 8 has given recommendations for force coefficients to
be adopted while estimating the wind force. The force
coefficient depends on the solidity ratio. The design wind
pressure is multiplied by the effective frontal area and the
force coefficient to arrive at the wind force. The code is silent
on the method to be followed to determine the design wind
pressure. The latticed steel towers which have lesser self
weight relative to the height are highly flexible in nature and
under the action of the fluctuating wind the towers vibrate
and undergo large deflections or deformations. Hence the
study of wind-structure dynamic interaction becomes
necessary for accurate assessment of wind effects on towers.
The gust effectiveness factor takes into account the dynamic
properties of the structure, the wind-structure interaction and
then determines the wind loads as equivalent static loads. In
this paper, steel towers of heights ranging from 50m to 250m
are considered for wind load analysis. Wind loads are
determined based on static method as well as gust effectiveness
factor method. The critical gust loads for design are
determined. The variation of wind force with height, geometry
and the dynamic properties of the structure are studied. Based
on the above, important conclusions are drawn. The
conclusions will be useful for safe and rational design of
latticed steel towers.
