Full-scale testing of transmission towers by numerical simulation

A compact and practical nonlinear analytical method for simulating the global structural response of transmission towers is presented. The tower is modelled as an assembly of beam-column elements. Linear, geometric and deformation stiffness matrices are used to describe the behaviour of a general thin-walled beam-column element in an updated Lagrangian framework. The formulation reduces greatly the number of elements required for accurate modelling of the nonlinear structural response. A lumped plasticity approach coupled with the concept of yield surface in force space is adopted for modelling material nonlinearity. A formex configuration formulation of the towers is used for automatic generation of data necessary for the analysis. The proposed numerical simulation technique may be used to investigate the ultimate structural behaviour of transmission towers under different loading conditions and may thus replace the current practice of full-scale tower testing.