EFFECT OF WIND SPEED ON STRUCTURAL BEHAVIOUR OF MONOPOLE AND SELF-SUPPORT TELECOMMUNICATION TOWERS

Monopole and Self-Supporting Towers are the most common types of Telecommunication Towers adopted in construction industry. This paper presents a comparison between Monopole and Self-Support type Towers with different heights of 30m, 40m and 50m for basic wind speeds of 33m/sec, 47m/sec and 55m/sec. Dead loads and Wind loads are considered for analysis of the tower using STAAD(X) Tower software which is tailor made for analyzing Telecommunication Towers. It is concluded from this study that Self-Support Towers have lower lateral displacements compared to the Monopole Towers of same height for same amount of loading. This is because they have higher stiffness. But, the steel quantity required for Self-Support Towers is about 2 times more than the Monopole Towers for a given tower height, wind speed and loading. However, due to their rigidity, SelfSupport Towers have more load carrying capacity than Monopoles. For towers of height below or equal to 40m, Monopoles might be preferred. But, with the increase in height beyond 50m, Self-Support Towers are recommended. This is because, in case of any unexpected and abnormally high wind speeds during cyclones, the structural rigidity will be intact and the damage and repair for the structure may not be so high unlike Monopole.