DIGITAL AUTOMATION OF WING LOAD ASSESSMENT FOR AUXILIARY ELEMENTS OF TELECOMMUNICATION TOWERS

Abstract

The paper presents a system for automated collection of wind loads on auxiliary elements of telecom-munication towers, such as vertical ladders, cable trays, and feeder lines. The relevance of the study is determined by the fact that these components significantly increase the wind-exposed area of the structure, yet their consideration in engi-neering practice is usually performed manually and is prone to human errors. The proposed methodology is implemented through the integration of the SCAD Office structural analysis package and Microsoft Excel spreadsheets. The geometric characteristics of the structure and attached equipment are automatically extracted from the numerical model and design documentation, while wind parameters are determined in accordance with current design codes. The developed algorithm generates results in two formats: a summary table for calculation justification and a text file enabling automatic load assignment in SCAD Office. Practical validation has been carried out on a 71-meter four-legged lattice tower operating in the Tula Region of Russia. The study shows that the additional loads from ladders, trays, and feeder lines can be comparable to the loads from the main structural elements, highlighting their critical importance for reliable analysis. A comparison of the automated and manual calculations reveal a discrepancy of no more than 2%, confirmingthe validity of the method. The novelty of this work lies in the programmatic implementation of the algorithm and its integration with SCAD Office, which has not been realized before. The proposed system has theoretical significance for improving structural modeling approaches of telecommunication towers and practical value for engineering companies, reducing model preparation time from several hours to a few minutes and minimizing errors in load assignment.