Design of Chinese steel TV towers

Xing Ma
Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering, University of
Auckland, New Zealand

Zhaomin Wang
Department of Civil Engineering, Tongji University, Shanghai, China

2006 NZSEE
Conference

ABSTRACT: The development of Chinese steel TV towers is introduced in this paper.

As an example of real project, the design procedure of Qingpu TV tower is presented.
After the dynamic characteristics of the structure is analysed, the quasi-static wind loads
and seismic forces are calculated based on Chinese design code and a nonlinear spatial
truss model is employed to analyse the response of the structure. Calculation results show
that the wind-induced structural response is much more severe than seismic response. It is
reasonable to omit seismic forces for practical design of steel TV towers.
1 INTRODUCTION
The earliest tower structures in China are Guangzhou TV tower (200m high, built in 1965) and
Shanghai TV tower (210m high, built in 1973). With the development of Chinese television industry,
more and more TV towers came into use. Excluding thousands of lower towers, there are more than 50
TV towers higher than 200m in China now, among which 70% are steel structures. The highest steel
TV tower in China is 336m Haerbin TV tower weighting 3,000 ton. It was designed by Tongji
University and the construction was finished in 2000. The future highest structure during the world is
being constructed in Guangzhou, China, which will be`a 610m TV tower made from 40,000 ton steel.
According to Chinese design codes, to design a tower structure, one should consider lateral loads such
as wind load and seismic forces.
2 LOADS
2.1 Quasi-static wind load
According to Chinese Design Standard for High-rise Structure, the quasi-static along-wind load may
be referred to as

w( z ) = ( z ) s ( z ) z ( z ) w0

(1)

where w0 is the basic wind pressure at 10m height above the ground, kN/m2; s (z ) is shape factor,
similar to drag force coefficient in NZ loadings standard; z (z ) is a factor of mean wind pressure
varying with the height, similar to site terrain/height multiplier in New Zealand loadings standard;
(z ) is wind-induced-vibration coefficient, similar to gust-loading factor.
Basic wind pressure w0 corresponds to the mean wind pressure over open exposure at a equivalent
elevation of 10m, averaged over a period of 10 minutes and with a return period of once-in-30-years.
It is important to point out that basic wind pressure is different in different codes even for the same
zone, because the averaging time is different. For example, averaging time in U.S. loading code is
3600/v(mph), therefore, the basic wind pressure for Shanghai Zone is 0.89 kN/m2 according to U.S.
loading code, although it is only 0.55kN/m2 according to Chinese code.

Paper Number 50

The factor s (z ) is a dimensionless coefficient, which expresses the steady wind pressure on the
structure and depends on the ratio of exposure area and profile area. The factor z (z ) describes the
variation with height in mean wind pressure and depends on terrain roughness and topography.

z ( z ) = 3.12( z / H z ) 2

(2)

The parameters in equation (2) may be selected in table 1.

Terrain parameters

Table 1

Terrain type

Description

H z (m)

open area

0.10

300

suburb area

0.16

350

small city

0.22

400

centres of large city

0.30

450

The wind-induced-vibration coefficient (z ) is equal to the ratio of the peak loading to the mean
loading. The formula for (z ) should be derived according to the random vibration theory due to
stochastic wind.

( z ) = 1 + H 1 ( z ) / z ( z )

(3)

where is fluctuation amplification factor; is a factor taking account of the influence of fluctuating
wind pressure varying along the height; H , are two factors taking into account of influence of
variation of cross section along the height; 1 ( z ) is the 1st mode function of the structure.

2.2 Seismic forces

According to Chinese Design Code, the seismic force of ith mode may be expressed as

Fi ( z ) = i i G ( z )i ( z )

(4)

where i is the seismic hazard acceleration coefficient, depending on the inherent period of the
structure and the site category; i is the mode influencing factor; G (z ) is the seismic gravity at z
height; i (z ) is the ith mode function. The parameter above may be calculated according to

max (Ti / Tg ) 0.9 Ti Tg

i =
max
Ti > Tg

(5)

where Ti is the ith inherent period of the structure; Tg is the fundamental translational period; max is
the peak seismic hazard acceleration coefficient.
H

i = G ( z )i ( z )dz / G ( z )i2 ( z )dz

where H is the height of the structure.

(6)

3 DESIGN OF QINGPU TV TOWER

3.1 Introduction to Qingpu TV Tower

Fig. 1 Qingpu TV tower

Qingpu TV tower (Fig. 1) is located in north suburb of Shanghai city, 168m high and 300t weight. It
was built in 1996. The main tower body is a spatial pentagon truss structure. There is a three-story
ball-shaped turret between the elevation of 92m and 104m. Basic wind pressure in Qingpu zone is
w0=0.55kN/m2. Site seismic parameters are Tg = 0.30 s , max = 0.30 .
The first four inherent periods of the structure are T1=1.94s, T2=0.95s, T3=0.37s, T4=0.25s respectively.
The corresponding mode shape are shown in Fig. 2.

180
160
140
120
Height (m)

Mode 1
100

Mode 2
Mode 3

80

Mode 4
60
40
20
0
-1.5

-1

-0.5

0.5

1.5

Mode function

Fig. 2 Mode shape

3.2 Wind load calculation
Based on equation (2) and (3), the wind load calculating parameters are obtained as following
180

(z )

160

s (z )

z (z )

140

Height (m)

120

shape factor

100

height varying factor

80

wind-vibration
coefficient

60
40
20
0
0

Wind calculating parameters

Fig. 3 wind load calculating parameters

Wind loads at different elevations are obtained as shown in Fig. 4

180
160
140

Height (m)

120
100
80
60
40
20
0
0

20

40

60

80

100

120

140

160

Wind load (kN)

Fig. 4 wind loads at different elevations

3.3 Seismic forces
Based on equation (5) and (6), 1 = 0.015 , 2 = 0.028 , 3 = 0.066 , 4 = 0.08 ; 1 = 3 . 521 ,

2 = 3.350 , 3 = 3.085 , 4 = 2.084 .

Seismic load are calculated as following
180
160
140
120
Height (m)

Mode 1
100

Mode 2
Mode 3

80

Mode 4
60
40
20
0
-6

-4

-2

Seismic load (kN)

Fig. 5 Seismic loads at different elevations

3.4 Structural response
The structural responses due to wind loads and seismic forces are shown in Fig. 6 and Fig. 7.

180
160
140

Height (m)

120
100

wind induced response

seismic response

80
60
40
20
0
0

0.5

1.5

displacement(m)

Fig. 6 displacement response to wind load and seismic load

180
160
140

Height(m)

120
100

wind induced response

seismic response

80
60
40
20
0
0

50

100

150

200

250

maximim member stress(MPa)

Fig. 7 member stress response to wind load and seismic load

4 CONCLUSION
As flexible high-rise structures, steel towers are sensitive to lateral loads, especially to wind loads.
From fig. 6 and fig.7, one may notice that the structural responses of Qingpu TV tower due to seismic
forces are only 10% those due to wind load. The possible reason is that steel towers are light and
flexible. The main inherent period of the structure is near that of wind load and far way from that of
earthquake. Therefore, the dynamic magnification effect of wind load is much more severe than that of
earthquake. Meanwhile, the structure is lighter than normal high-rise building. The calculation results
of seismic load based on structural gravity is much smaller. In general, for practical design of steel
tower structures, seismic load may be omitted when combined with wind load.
REFERENCES:
Wang, ZM. 2002. Tower Structures. Science Press, Beijing, China.
Chinese Standard. 2002. Chinese Design Code for High-rise Structures.
Zhang, X.T. 1988. The current Chinese code on wind loading and comparative study of wind loading codes.
Journal of Wind Engineering and Industrial Aerodynamics. 30. 133-142.