Optimal Schemes of Tall Pinned Masts

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Optimal Schemes of Tall Pinned Masts

Belevičius, Rimantas / Jatulis, Donatas / Rusakevičius, Dainius

A procedure for simultaneous topology, shape, and sizing optimization of tall pinned guyed masts is presented in the paper, seeking the minimal total mass of the mast structure including guys. The typical schemes of tall telecommunication masts of four different heights with different antenna areas distributed in the top 15% of the mast height that is triangular in plan and supported by two to four guys’ clusters are examined. The mast structure is optimized for self-weight and wind loading evaluated according to Eurocodes. Since the non-gradient stochastic optimization algorithm requiring thousands of problem solutions is used, the non-linear behaviour of the guyed mast is mimicked by a suggested approximate linear analysis procedure. The optimization constraints involve all strength, local, and global stability requirements. Analysis of the optimization results leads to the following most important findings: at equal conditions of the mast scheme, a higher number of guys’ clusters always reduces the mast mass; in case of four guys’ clusters levels the anchoring points of the top and the next-to-last level guys should be superposed. Also, the optimal ranges of pre-stresses in guys of different levels, their inclination angles, and the ratios of spans between guys’ levels are provided.