The design of the overall stability of the Shukhov radio tower taking into account the local damage

The construction of the radio tower engineer V. Shukhov. For almost one hundred years the structures and components of the radio tower are heavily corroded which resulted in local damage. The danger of accumulation and increase of local damage is that they lead to the collapse of the tower. In 2016 anti-damage support structure was made to exclude the sudden avalanche-like collapse of the structure of the radio tower engineer V. Shukhov (Fig. 1). But there is a risk of formation and distribution of local damage. The checking calculation of the Shukhov radio tower was performed to identify the impact of the anti-damage support structure, taking into account the local damage. The calculation was made at the software complex "Lira-CAD". Normative loads, their application, reliability coefficients for loads and combination coefficients are adopted in accordance with Building Act 20.13330.2016 "Loads and impacts". The compatibility of the Shukhov radio tower and the anti-damage support structure is provided by pre-tension in the suspensions units of the radio tower attached to the support structure consoles. The tension force was determined by the calculation based on the experimental results of 2015. The results of the combined geometrically nonlinear analysis of the Shukhov radio tower and the support structures showed the increased overall stability of the radio tower; the maximum movement of the unit stands and support rings was reduced by 20-30%, the maximum stands stress were reduced by 10-15% due to the load redistribution among the stands, but the maximum stress slightly exceed the allowed value. The complex of checking calculations of the Shukhov radio tower and the supporting structures showed that the existing anti-damage construction eliminates a sudden avalanche-like collapse of the structure. There is a risk of formation and distribution of local damage with the irreversible deformations of the stands and support rings of the radio tower with the increase of defects and damages of the structure of the radio tower which are still in a damage state. For a more uniform distribution of loads and increase the overall stability of the structure, it is necessary to increase the number of consoles of anti-damage support structure to 24 at each level of the support structure. Full-scale restoration works of the Shukhov radio tower structures are required to prevent the formation and distribution of local damages.