Basic sensitivity analysis of a telecommunication tower complementing standard reinforcement design process

This paper presents straightforward sensitivity assessment of a telecommunication tower. The analysis is set to identify the elements of the tower which may be reinforced with the greatest structural advantage. As current expert opinions on structural redesign of similar structures due to a planned addition of extra loads are mainly based on deterministic computations or engineering intuition, the probabilistic-based approach is proposed to verify and supplement the reinforcement design projects, in contrary to the existing action course. In the paper, the analysis is performed on an example of a standard, spatial telecommunication truss tower subjected to a standard set of loads, special attention is paid to wind and icing load. The cross-sectional areas of curbs and braces of each tower segment are adopted as random variables of the problem, in the form of sets of percentage increments of the initial cross-sectional area values. Joint impact is observed of individual variable change and the change imposed by groups of key variables with a similar impact on the structural load capacity. Finally, engineering-oriented conclusions are presented, of probabilistic origin. A beneficial solution of the reinforcement is proposed, maintaining the reliability of the initial tower.