Mean wind loads on equilateral triangular lattice tower under skewed wind loading

Abstract

Compared with lattice towers with square or rectangle cross sections, triangular lattice towers have the advantage of smaller foundation footprint. Triangular lattice towers have been widely used in transmission towers and communication towers, yet only a few studies have been conducted on their wind loads. Therefore, a series of wind tunnel tests on a triangular lattice tower were conducted using direct force measurements in this study. Effective drag coefficients and effective skewed wind load factors normalized with the “true” windward projected areas were proposed and obtained from the test results. Piecewise functions were suggested to calculate the effective skewed wind load factors and skewed wind load factors. It is found that the skewed wind load factors show an approximate “W” profile which the British standard formula does not fit. The effective skewed wind load factors show a strong regularity and are only related to yaw angles and solidity ratios. The analytical effective skewed wind load factors have a good agreement with fitting results with a maximum error of 3.1%. The recommended formula for skewed wind load factors is concise and can effectively illustrate the changing tendency of drag coefficient curves.