Proposal for Structural Improvement of 9m+3m Braced Telecommunications Tower

Abstract

The present research proposes an improvement to the usual design of a braced tower according to the standards used in Latin America. When carrying out structural reinforcement work on a tower, a structural failure was detected with successive antenna falls and loss in the transmission signal, revealing a notable deficiency in the mast coupling area. However, to carry out structural evaluations, the IDEA StatiCa and Sap2000 software were used, three additional areas with possible failures were also identified, attributed to the inadequate application in 3 types of connections: Union of the base, union between the sections at 3 meters and in the bracing of the tower. In the mentioned areas, they were evaluated with the failure criterion of the Von Mises stress analysis with steel creep of 2277.00 kg/cm2, this being the maximum parameter that can be reached with the ASTM A-36 and A-53 material. The existing tower has the shape of an equilateral triangle where it shows hidden defects, thus proposing a circular design, using the ANSI TIA 222-H standard. The results in the union of the triangular base, union between sections at 3 meters and in the bracing of the tower, do not meet the Von Mises failure criterion, thus surprising in surpassing this. In conclusion, the proposed elements present a correct design in the connections in the braced towers, presenting reliability in their future manufacturing.