Atmospheric icing is a major design factor for guyed lattice masts and transmission lines in Canada and many others countries with cold climate. Tall and slender guyed lattice towers are particularly sensitive to ice accretion, wind or combination of both, as they are often located in remote areas, where meteorological data are limited. The variation of local topography and seasonal climate affects icing conditions and complicates standardization of icing accretion design guidelines. Icing design criteria was evaluated in this study through an extensive literature review of current design standards for latticed structures subjected to ice and wind load and/or a combination of both, field and laboratory work.

Atmospheric icing is a major design factor for guyed lattice masts and transmission lines in Canada and many others countries with cold climate. Tall and slender guyed lattice towers are particularly sensitive to ice accretion, wind or combination of both, as they are often located in remote areas, where meteorological data are limited. The variation of local topography and seasonal climate affects icing conditions and complicates standardization of icing accretion design guidelines. Icing design criteria was evaluated in this study through an extensive literature review of current design standards for latticed structures subjected to ice and wind load and/or a combination of both, field and laboratory work.

Torres metálicas treliçadas tem sido largamente utilizadas como suporte de antenas de microondas. Devido ao baixo peso e a inexistência de terremotos significativos no Brasil, a força de vento é o fator determinante do projeto destas estruturas. Com o objetivo de determinar estas forças e seus efeitos em torres treliçadas foram realizadas investigações numéricas e experimentais. Uma torre de 100 metros foi dimensionada com base nos padrões existentes no Brasil. Examinou-se a resposta dinâmica da estrutura ao longo do vento. Investigaram-se a resposta ressonante, não ressonante e o fator resposta de rajada. Concluiu-se que a resposta ressonante não é significativa para este tipo de estrutura. Compararam-se os modelos de DAVENPORT (1993), da norma Brasileira NBR6123/88 e o processo do vento sintético de FRANCO (1993). Uma investigação experimental foi realizada para analisar os coeficientes de força em uma seção da torre estudada. Os experimentos foram realizados no “Boundary Layer Wind Tunnel Laboratory" (BLWTL) da “University of Western Ontario" (UWO), Canadá. Foram analisados o ângulo de incidência do vento; o índice de área exposta; o efeito de proteção; o fator de interferência no coeficiente de arrasto de antenas de microondas, devido à proximidade da torre e a influência da turbulência do vento. Os resultados mostraram boa concordância com os valores obtidos em diferentes normas existentes. / With today’s expanding communication systems, a large number of lattice towers to support cellular and microwave antennas are being constructed in Brazil. Due to the lightweight of these structures, wind forces are the primary concern in the design. With the objective of determining these forces and their effects upon latticed towers, a numerical and experimental investigation is accomplished. A 100-meter tower is designed based on existing patterns of latticed towers in Brazil. The along wind dynamic response is analysed. The resonant, background response and gust factor are examined. It is concluded that the resonant response is not significant for this type of structure. The DAVENPORT (1993) method, the Brazilian code NBR6123/88 and the process of the synthetic wind of FRANCO (1993) are compared. An experimental investigation is accomplished to analyse the force coefficients on a section of the lattice tower studied. The tests were performed at the Boundary Layer Wind Tunnel Laboratory, University of Western Ontario (UWO), Canada. The wind incidence angle; the tower solidity; the shielding effect; the interference factor upon the drag coefficient of the microwave antennas, due to the tower proximity and the influence of the wind turbulence are analysed. The results are ii good agreement with the values obtained in different existent codes.

Torres metálicas treliçadas tem sido largamente utilizadas como suporte de antenas de microondas. Devido ao baixo peso e a inexistência de terremotos significativos no Brasil, a força de vento é o fator determinante do projeto destas estruturas. Com o objetivo de determinar estas forças e seus efeitos em torres treliçadas foram realizadas investigações numéricas e experimentais. Uma torre de 100 metros foi dimensionada com base nos padrões existentes no Brasil. Examinou-se a resposta dinâmica da estrutura ao longo do vento. Investigaram-se a resposta ressonante, não ressonante e o fator resposta de rajada. Concluiu-se que a resposta ressonante não é significativa para este tipo de estrutura. Compararam-se os modelos de DAVENPORT (1993), da norma Brasileira NBR6123/88 e o processo do vento sintético de FRANCO (1993). Uma investigação experimental foi realizada para analisar os coeficientes de força em uma seção da torre estudada. Os experimentos foram realizados no “Boundary Layer Wind Tunnel Laboratory” (BLWTL) da “University of Western Ontario” (UWO), Canadá. Foram analisados o ângulo de incidência do vento; o índice de área exposta; o efeito de proteção; o fator de interferência no coeficiente de arrasto de antenas de microondas, devido à proximidade da torre e a influência da turbulência do vento. Os resultados mostraram boa concordância com os valores obtidos em diferentes normas existentes. / With today’s expanding communication systems, a large number of lattice towers to support cellular and microwave antennas are being constructed in Brazil. Due to the lightweight of these structures, wind forces are the primary concern in the design. With the objective of determining these forces and their effects upon latticed towers, a numerical and experimental investigation is accomplished. A 100-meter tower is designed based on existing patterns of latticed towers in Brazil. The along wind dynamic response is analysed. The resonant, background response and gust factor are examined. It is concluded that the resonant response is not significant for this type of structure. The DAVENPORT (1993) method, the Brazilian code NBR6123/88 and the process of the synthetic wind of FRANCO (1993) are compared. An experimental investigation is accomplished to analyse the force coefficients on a section of the lattice tower studied. The tests were performed at the Boundary Layer Wind Tunnel Laboratory, University of Western Ontario (UWO), Canada. The wind incidence angle; the tower solidity; the shielding effect; the interference factor upon the drag coefficient of the microwave antennas, due to the tower proximity and the influence of the wind turbulence are analysed. The results are ii good agreement with the values obtained in different existent codes.

The trend of structural engineering in the recent years is toward the use of lighter and moreeconomical structural elements. In steel construction, peculiarly, thin-walled structural elements arebecoming more popular and have a growing importance. Improved techniques in a manufacturing ofthin-walled elements have led to increased competitiveness of such products in the buildingapplications. Some examples of such structural element can be found in everyday life in form ofcolumns, studs, roofing trusses, and light-weight frames. However, the use of slender profiles and acomplex cross sections shape lead to requirements to study instability phenomenon in a form of local,distortional, flexural, torsional and coupled instability. Such complex structural behavior is inevitablyaccompanied by demand to improve calculation methods and design provisions. In this thesis, aninnovative solution of structural element composed of thin-walled plates is proposed for theapplication on lattice support structure of wind turbine.Thin-walled cold-formed profiles are steel products usually made from cold rolled coils and folded inthe second step. In this way, only open profiles can be produced. The predominant problem of theopen cross-section is the excessive torsional effect caused by the non-coincidence between the shearcenter and mass center, and a poor torsional resistance. A better response is possible with closed crosssections, but such profiles could not be produced by the folding. The solution is to make semi-closedsection by assembling them into polygonal profiles with mechanical fasteners, as presented in thisthesis.Objective of this work is to study the proposed structural sections in design situation and toinvestigate possible design models. The expected structural behavior of the column is a mixturebetween the open and closed cross-section. These cases will be investigated through numerical study.In this thesis presented a comprehensive parametric study on the ultimate strength of proposed coldformedsteel columns using the Finite Element package ABAQUS. FE models were first developedfor columns by using automation that was made through MATLAB and Python script. The bucklingand non-linear FE study was done for the investigation of local (L), distortional (D) and global (G)possible buckling failures and ultimate resistance, respectively. Modelling issues such as boundaryconditions, meshing, initial imperfections, material models, and non-linear solution controls in FEAwere also addressed.The parametric study involved series of profiles of built-up polygonal cross-section types with variedthickness (t), number of corners (n), diameter (d), slenderness (slend), yield strength (fy), number ofpoints along corner radii (np), extension lip length (lext), gusset plate thickness (tg), member length (l),and density of fasteners (s/d ratio), loaded in compression and bending moment. The bending momentoccurs as the effect of forces acting on the connection. The purpose of this analysis is to study thecritical load, cross-sectional behavior, influence of the amplitude of initial imperfections on theultimate load, and influence of each parameter used in the analysis through Full Factorial Design.