Aerodynamic analysis of the top structure of a monopole telecommunication tower: Impact of wind directions and diameters of the hexadecagonal tube body

Abstract

Monopole telecommunication towers are important structures utilized in telecommunication services. The accurate prediction and decent understanding of the aerodynamic behavior on and around these structures can aid structural behavior assessment and cost-effective design. In the current paper, wind-tunnel (WT) tests and computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations were employed to investigate the aerodynamic behavior of the 1:4 reduced-scale top structure of a monopole telecommunication tower (TMTT). The impact of three wind directions (θ = 0°, 30°, and 60°) and diameters (D = 100 mm, 150 mm and 200 mm) were investigated experimentally and numerically. The accuracy of 3D steady-state Reynolds-Averaged Navier–Stokes (RANS) simulations with the SST k–ω model was validated by the WT tests. The results demonstrated that: (i) The strategy proposed to measure the aerodynamic force on tube body, while considering the influence of other elements, was valid; (ii) An average deviation of 4.9% in terms of the drag areas in comparison to WT results was found for the unseparated TMTT models. The CFD technique can be a possible alternative to evaluate the aerodynamic behavior of TMTT; (ⅲ) A more pronounced impact on surface pressure distribution and flow characteristics is observed with the variation of wind directions.