CHAPTER 2

REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE AND STUDIES

2.1 Related Literature

Behavior of Cellular Tower During Typhoons

Telecommunication towers are tall structures usually designed for supporting parabolic
antennas installed at a specific height. According to Silva, Kumar R, Sukumar, & Paramasivam
(2019), the stability of towers post-earthquake or a cyclone is of great concern. Hence in the
present study, a detailed analysis has been made on the behavior of the telecommunication tower
subjected to wind and seismic loads with varying the bracing system of towers. Gust factor
method is used for wind load analysis. Conducted analytical study on effect of wind on
telecommunication towers, for wind speed of 50m/s for four combinations of bracing systems.
The results of displacement at the top of the towers and stresses in the bottom leg of the towers
are compared and the optimum bracing system is found.

Figure uploaded by S.R. Massah

Tower behavior when subjected to lateral force

Factors that affect the stability of cellular tower during typhoons

First, High Winds: Wind loading is one of the biggest structural challenges cell towers
faces. High winds can cause the tower to sway, which can damage the equipment and antennae.
The tower must be designed to withstand the maximum wind speed in the area. Secondly,
Weight Load: Another structural challenge is weight loading. Cell towers are often loaded with
heavy equipment, such as generators and batteries. The weight of this equipment can cause the
tower to lean or even collapse if not properly supported specially during typhoons. And lastly,
Foundation Load: Another consideration is the foundation of the cell tower. The foundation must
be designed to support the entire weight of the tower. Wickramasinghe (2022)

Design Standards and Regulations of Cellular Tower

Cell towers are designed to withstand various weather conditions, including hurricanes
and other natural disasters. While they are built to be sturdy and resilient, the severity of the
storm or disaster can still affect their ability to function properly. Here are some key points to
consider:

Tower Design: Cell towers are constructed with strong materials like steel or reinforced
concrete, and they undergo rigorous engineering and testing processes. They are designed to
withstand high winds and extreme weather conditions, including hurricanes. Tower height, base
design, and anchoring mechanisms are considered during construction to enhance stability.
Samhuri (2023).

Maximum wind load capacity of cellular tower

Wind loads are crucial in the communication towers design since they are tall and
slender. With climate change bringing more storms and higher wind speeds, it is more crucial to
research the finest tower structure that withstands such conditions with the least life cycle cost.
Therefore, in this paper, a comparative case study is performed between 45 m height lattice
tower and monopole tower in Egypt. Two locations were considered, the first is inside the city
and the second is an open terrain. In addition, two load scenarios were investigated. The
comparison parameters are the behavior under critical wind loads taking into account three wind
speeds which are 100 km/hr., 130 km/hr. and 140 km/hr., and life cycle cost analysis. It was
found that the lattice tower behaves better under critical wind loads with a maximum tilting
equal to 0.4784 degrees at location 1, load 2, and a wind speed of 140 km/hr. compared to
0.5806 in the case of the monopole tower. Similarly, the lattice tower behaves better at the
second location as well. However, the monopole tower has less life cycle cost with a total life
cycle cost of 3,201,846.80 EGP compared to 4,380,419.91EGP in case of lattice tower.
Therefore, based on the location, wind speed, and available land area, and life cycle cost
assessment, the optimum tower structure could be selected. (Elhakim, Tawfik, & Fahim, 2022)

Effect of wind speed on structural behavior 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, Self-Support 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. ( Kumar, Raju, Navya, & Naidu, 2017)
Damages to truss-type structures during recent typhoons.

In November of 2004, Typhoon Unding (International Name: Muifa) made landfall in the
Philippines and caused damages in the Bicol region, particularly in Naga City which was within
~10 kilometers from the path of the typhoon. PAGASA’s recorded maximum gust speed for this
typhoon is only around 180 kph. Notably damaged were truss-type structures such as
transmission towers (trussed towers1 supporting electrical transmission lines; see Figure 1a). In
September of 2006, Typhoon Milenyo (International Name: Xangsane) made landfall in the
Philippines and again caused damages to different structures in Northern Samar, the Bicol
region, Quezon province, Southern Tagalog provinces, and Metro Manila. PAGASA’s recorded
maximum gust speed for this typhoon is around 160 kph. Many pole-type structures (e.g.
electrical transmission posts, sign structures, guyed masts) were affected. But among the most
notably affected structures were billboards (truss-type structures supporting advertisement
boards; see Figure 1b) in Metro Manila, which is said to have been in the path of the typhoon.
While there are other types of structures that were damaged (e.g., pole-type structures) during
these two recent typhoons that made landfall in the Philippines, this paper aims to address wind
loading issues related to truss-type structures such as trussed towers and billboard structures
only. (Aquino,, Pacheco, & Germar, 2005)

2.2 Related Studies

Wind performance assessment of telecommunication towers: a case study in Greece

Steel lattice towers are widely used by telecommunication companies to install radio
wave dish antennas for the expansion of their network. They are tall highly-optimized structures
for which severe weather conditions including low temperatures, snow and high winds are the
governing loading conditions. Specifically, high winds in combination with accumulated ice on
the members of the structure and the dishes are the leading causes of collapse. The focus is on a
standardized model of a telecommunication tower used by major telecommunication companies
in Greece. The model is designed according to European Standards for areas lo-cated at distances
lower than 10km from the coastline. The tower is 48 meters tall, having a square cross-section
whose dimensions generally reduce with height and it employs channel and angle steel sections.
Non-linear dynamic analyses were performed in order to estimate the fragility of the structure to
wind and/or icing conditions. Wind loads were simulated via a 3D wind field fully capturing the
spatial and temporal variation of wind speed over the entire profile of the tower for different
reference values of wind speed. The impact of ice was assessed by considering a range of
different uniformly thick layers of ice that increase the weight as well as the cross-section area of
all members and dishes. The ultimate goal of this work is to provide the fragility functions for
every potential combination of wind and icing conditions that could be observed during the
service life of the structure. Thus, by incorporating the corresponding climactic hazard surfaces,
the risk of tower collapse is estimated over its entire projected lifetime, offering a useful decision
support tool to telecommunication companies regarding the need to replace or upgrade their
existing tower network on a case-by-case basis. Dimitrios V. Bilionis & Dimitrios
Vamvatsikos(2019)

Analysis of transmission line tower subjected to wind loading.

Heavy electrical transmission lines are carried by transmission line towers at a suitable
and safe height above the ground. These towers must bear its own weight and distress created by
transmission line wires. Despite that it should also survive against all-natural factors such as
fierce winds, earthquakes, and snow loads. For a safe and cost-effective design, transmission line
towers must fulfil both all structural and electrical standards. This manuscript discusses the
numerous types of transmission towers and their configurations as per the Indian Standard IS
802:2015. Further this paper contains the details of the design and simulation of 500 kV double
circuit conductors, which is one of the commonly adopted transmission towers. For the said
purpose STAAD Pro. V8i Select Series, computation tool has been adopted which is based on
the finite element computations. During computational analysis wind load, structural dead load,
and seismic load according to IS:1893:2002 (part 1) has been considered. The clearance from the
ground (h1), the lowermost conductor wire's maximum sag (h2), conductor wires' vertical
spacing (h3), and the distance between the earth wire and the highest conductor wire in terms of
vertical distance (h3), all are added up to get the final height of transmission tower which is 43.5
m. The earth wire is also known as the ground wire, is always sited at the very topmost of the
steel tower. It features an 8.32 m square base with a width of 8.32 m. The three major phases of
the fragility analysis procedure for transmission towers under wind loading are as follows:
Nonlinear dynamic analysis, regression analysis, and creation of Wind loadings and uncertainty
models. After that, the random variables and probability distributions corresponding to them are
examined. Finally, based on the commonly adopted transmission towers a hypothetical case
study has been conducted for a real-world functioning tower which is subjected to wind loading
along with other critical loadings. The obtained result shows that if we are considering a larger
number of uncertain characteristics, then it causes the fragility curve to become more disperse,
and further it is observed that the angle of attack for the wind load has a substantial effect on the
fragility curve. Vinay Kumar Singh & Abhishek Kumar Gautam (2022)

To Study the Wind Effect on Three Legged and Four-Legged Telecommunication Tower.

As The telecommunication towers are considered as one of the basic infrastructures in the
human societies. During last few decades with the compulsion to provide efficient
communication huge number of telecommunication towers has been built in India. It is an
engineering discipline work that collaborates structural engineering, civil engineering, electrical
engineering and electronics engineering. Failure of such structures is a major concern. it is
extremely important to consider appropriate parameters for designing of these towers in order to
enhance their sustainability. In this paper, a comparative analysis is being carried out for three
legged and four-legged telecommunication towers to install the efficient structure with more
stability and economical too. It is extremely important to consider appropriate parameters for
designing of these towers in order to enhance their sustainability. The wind has been taken as an
elementary force for the analysis and design using STAAD pro software. The joint
displacements, bending moment, shear force and axial stress have been compared to find out the
serviceability of the structure. (Gajendra Singh Parmar et al., 2018)

Field measurements of Di Wang Tower during Typhoon York.

Di Wang Tower is the highest building located at the hub of the Shenzhen financial and
commercial area, about 2 km from the Hong Kong border. On 16 September 1999, Typhoon
York, which is the strongest typhoon since 1983 and the typhoon of longest duration on record,
attacked Hong Kong and Shenzhen. The wind and structural monitoring system installed in Di
Wang Tower timely recorded wind and structural response data. The measured wind data are
analysed in this paper to obtain the mean wind speed and direction, turbulence intensity, gust
factor, probability distribution, and wind spectrum. The wind characteristics measured from
Typhoon York are compared with those currently used in Hong Kong and previously obtained by
other researchers. The structural characteristics and responses, including the natural frequency,
modal damping ratio, translational and torsional displacement and acceleration responses, are
also provided. The field measurement data clearly demonstrate that the performance of Di Wang
Tower is satisfactory during Typhoon York. The field measurement data obtained here are useful
for the validation of wind tunnel tests and the future design of tall buildings in typhoon regions.
(Xu & Zhan, 2001)

Study on Wind Loads of Different Height Transmission Towers under Downbursts with
Different Parameters

Disaster investigation results have shown that most wind-induced damage to transmission
towers is related to downbursts. To clarify the effects of downbursts’ parameters on transmission
towers with different heights, studies were conducted on five transmission towers with different
diameters under static and moving downburst wind conditions. As a comparison, the responses
of the towers under normal wind conditions were studied. The results showed that the effect of
downbursts on the response of the transmission tower increased with the distance between the
downburst center and the tower (r) when r < 1.0 D jet (Djet is the jet diameter of downburst) and
then decreased when r > 1.0 D jet. The effects of jet diameter on the response of transmission
towers with different tower heights were similar. As the jet diameter increased, the response of
the tower continued growing until it reached a peak value and then steadily decreased soon
thereafter. When the tower height was below 81.5 m, the wind load of the downburst on the
transmission tower was significantly greater than that of the normal wind. As the tower height
increased, the ratio of the transmission tower’s response under the two types of wind fields
rapidly declined to about 0.91–1.01. (Zhisong Wang et al., 2022)
A proposed typhoon resistant design of a wind turbine tower in the Philippines.

The Philippines is essentially a typhoon-prone area which poses a threat to the structural
integrity of wind turbines. Due to this scenario, the authors classified the country’s wind climate
according to the IEC classes. The generalized extreme value distribution was used to model the
extreme wind speeds from each of the fifty stations. Areas exceeding the IEC class I 50-year
return wind speeds were classified as Class 1a.
Subsequently the probability of buckling failure of a wind turbine was analyzed. The analysis
shows that there is a need to increase the mean of the tower buckling resistance by a factor of
1.02 to 1.74 to mitigate buckling failure due to typhoons. (GARCIANO & KOIKE, 2007)

KNOWLEDGE GAP

Base on the studies presented above, here are some gaps that the researchers think that
separates the study from the previous researches. First is the location, then the topography,
exposure category and other variables related to location. Secondly, the history of the specific
wind load given in this research. And lastly, the maximum capacity of the given cellular tower
can withstand.

Synthesis of the Study

The design is crucial factors in the behavior of the steel structure during typhoon, given
that cell towers are tall slender structures that are typically built on high ground, such as hills or
mountains. Communication towers are strategic assets that transfer signals between cell phones
making communications easier and faster. Consequently, selecting the optimum structure type
that withstands the surrounding environment.

In conclusion, the study emphasizes the critical importance of design factors in

influencing the behavior of steel structures during typhoons. Specifically, the focus of the study
has been on cell towers, which are tall and slender structures commonly situated on elevated
terrain, such as hills and mountains. These communication towers play a pivotal role in
facilitating seamless and efficient communication by relaying signals between cell phones.
 The study underscores the significance of selecting the most suitable structure type to
withstand the harsh environmental conditions typically associated with high-ground locations.
Typhoons, with their strong winds and potential for severe weather conditions, pose a particular
challenge for these structures. Therefore, engineering designs for cell towers must be carefully
considered to ensure their stability and resilience.

In essence, the research underscores the need for robust design principles and structural
engineering expertise when it comes to the construction and maintenance of cell towers. This is
essential to guarantee uninterrupted communication services, particularly during adverse weather
events like typhoons. The findings from this study provide valuable insights for engineers and
stakeholders involved in the design and deployment of these critical infrastructure assets.

RESEARCH PARADIGM

INPUT PROCESS OUTPUT

Find and Inputting Results of the analysis of

request for parameters of the the cellular tower when
Architectural and obtained cellular tower
structural drawing plan plan and the typhoons subjected to the strong
of Cellular tower then in STAAD Pro wind loads caused by 3
search for the 3 most (student version)
strongest typhoons and
powerful typhoon that
Then determine determine its maximum
landfall here in the
the maximum wind
Philippines in the past wind load capacity.
load-carrying capacity
15 years.
of the tower and
identify and analyze
potential failure
modes.
DEFINITION OF TERMS

Cellular tower - Cell towers, also known as cell sites, are where electric communications
equipment and antennae are mounted, allowing the surrounding area to use wireless
communication devices like telephones and radios.

Wind load – Wind load refers to the pressure caused by the wind that is delivered to a structure.
This weight is dispersed over the structure's total area. Larger structures are more affected by the
wind than small ones because the intensity of this load increases as building altitude increases.

STAAD Pro Trial Version - STAAD Pro is a software widely used in the field of Civil
engineering. It has more flexible and advanced features than Auto CAD, being used in the
construction industry. AutoCAD allows candidates to work on two-dimension models; however,
STAAD Pro will let you work on three-dimensional models.

Super Typhoon - a tropical cyclone with maximum wind speed of 118 to 184 kph or 64 - 99
knots. SUPER TYPHOON (STY) - a tropical cyclone with maximum wind speed exceeding 185
kph or more than 100 knots

Lattice Tower - A structure which consists of vertical and horizontal supports and metal crossed
strips or bars to support antennae and connecting appurtenances.