Need for a Specific Indian Code/Standard for Optimization of Telecom Structures

A Brief Comparison of Wind Pressures per IS: 875 (Part-3) and TIA-222-G

Case Study by Seshendra Kumar, C. Eng (I), M.I.E., and Jason T. Kahrs, P.E.

The Indian Telecommunications Industry has the second largest telecommunication network in the world with approximately 35.96 million landlines and 652.42 million wireless subscribers. Since 2001, the Indian mobile subscriber base has increased in size by a factor of more than onehundred. The projected growth of the Indian telecommunication industry will exceed more than 1.159 billion mobile subscribers by 2013. [1] To meet this exponential telecom growth and to keep up with advancements in wireless technologies, telecom carriers will need to install/change their equipment on either existing or newly built towers. Consequently, there will be a lot of scope for the structural analysis/design of telecom structures. The typical practice for engineers to determine wind loads on telecom structures in India is to use the generic Indian Code, IS: 875 (Part-3), Code of Practice for Design Loads (Other than Earthquake) for Buildings and Structures. There are many international Codes/Standards developed specific to telecom structures such as TIA-222-G, BS-8100 etc. The purpose of this paper is to show a need for a specific Indian Code/Standard for optimization of telecom structures based on a comparison of wind pressures determined using IS:875 (Part-3) and the International Telecom Code/Standard, TIA-222-G, Structural Standard for Antenna Supporting Structures and Antennas. The vast majority of telecommunication towers in India are self-support towers. Self-Support towers of 30m, 60m, and 90m heights are used in this study. The equivalent design parameters that are used to determine the wind pressures acting at various increments of the tower height are listed in Table 1. The majority of the area in India consists of warm/tropic regions throughout the year. As such, ice loading is ignored for this study. The wind pressures are calculated by taking the controlling load case for the structure, i.e. Basic Wind Speed without Ice. For simplicity, the towers are analyzed without linear and discrete appurtenances. The drag factor difference between the two codes is considered to be insignificant.

Pride Parmar Galaxy, 10/10+A, 3rd Floor 1 Sadhuvaswani Chowk Pune-411 001 Maharashtra, India This paper was submitted for eWORLD FORUM 2011 Conference

Table 1 Equivalent Design Parameters

Design Parameter Importance Factor/Risk Coefficient Exposure Category/Terrain Category Topography Category/Topography Factor TIA-222-G Parameter Importance Factor, I =1 Equivalent Design Parameter in IS: 875 (Part-3) Risk Co-efficient, k1=1 Corresponding to Mean Probable Design Life (MPDL) of 50yrs Terrain Category 2 Open Terrain with scattered obstructions Topography Factor, k3 = 1 General Topography

Exposure Category-C Open Terrain with scattered Obstructions Topographic Category, Kzt = 1 General Topography

Tables 2 and 3 show the design parameters used for a 30m Self-Support Tower for IS: 875 (Part-3) and TIA-222-G, respectively. Wind pressure graphs for 30m, 60m and 90m towers are shown in Figures 1 to 3. As shown in Table 4, for a 30m Self-Support Tower, the percentage difference of the design wind pressure calculated using IS: 875 (Part-3) ranges from 29.9% to 53.1% higher with respect to TIA-222-G. Similarly, as shown in Table 5, the difference between the wind pressures for the 60m and 90m towers are 14.3% to 37.8% higher when determined using IS: 875 (Part-3). The wind pressure difference is attributed to refined reliability, safety, and economical factors adopted by TIA. In conclusion, the results of this study show that the wind pressures calculated based on IS: 875 (Part-3) are significantly higher than that of TIA-222-G. Consequently, higher wind pressures lead to a less economical tower. Hence, it is recommended that more research is needed to develop an Indian code/standard for Telecommunication structures considering reliability, safety and economical factors to obtain optimized telecom structures including Self-Support, Guyed, and Monopoles etc. Table 2 IS: 875 (Part-3) Tower Parameters for 30m Self-Support Tower
IS: 875 (Part-3) Parameters Basic Wind Speed (3 Sec gust) Mean Probable Design Life of Structure (Note1) Probability Factor (Risk Coefficient) Terrain Category Class of Structure Terrain, Height and structure Size factor Topography Factor (General Topography) Design Wind Speed at the top of Tower Design Wind Pressure Design Wind Force / Effective Projected Area Vb N k1 TC k2 k3 Vz = k1*k2*k3*Vb pz = 0.6*Vz
2

Units 50 50 1 2 B 1.10 1.00 55.06 1819.0 1819.0 m/s N/m N/m

2 2

Reference

m/s Years (Table-1) (Table-1) (5.3.2.1) (5.3.2.2) (Table-2) (5.3.3.1) (5.3) (5.4)

F/(EPA) = pz

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Table 3 TIA-222-G Tower Parameters for 30m Self-Support Tower

TIA-222-G Parameters Basic Wind Speed (3 sec Gust) Importance Factor Exposure Category Structure Class Wind Direction Probability Factor for Structure (Note-2) zg (Is a factor to calculate, Kz) (Is a factor to calculate, Kz) Velocity Pressure Coefficient Topographic Factor (For Category-1) Velocity Pressure Gust Response Factor (Note-2) Design Wind Force / Effective Projected Area V I 50 1 C II 0.85 274 9.5 Kz = 2.01(z/zg)(2/) Kzt qz = 0.613KzKZt Kd V2 I Gh F/(EPA) = qz Gh 1.26 1 1643.53 0.85 29.28 N/m2 N/m2 m Units m/s (Table 2-3) (2.6.5.1) (Table 2-1) (Table 2-2) (Table 2-4) (Table 2-4) (2.6.5.2) (2.6.6.4) (2.6.9.6) (2.6.7) Reference

Kd

Note-1: Per Table-1 of IS: 875 (Part-3) Mean Probable Design Life (MPDL) for Telecommunication Towers is 100 yrs. Importance Factor 1.0 is used for both codes. This value corresponds to 50 years MPDL per IS: 875 (Part-3). Note-2: Wind Direction Probability Factor (Kd) & Gust Factor (Gh) used in the above calculations are corresponding to the structure only.

Table 4 Wind Pressures for 30m Self-Support Tower at each 5m interval

IS: 875 (Part-3) S. No. z (m) Wind Pressure, per IS875-(P-3), pz (N/m2) 1815 1750 1654 1561 1441 1441 1441 TIA-222-G Wind Pressure, per TIA-222-G, qzGh (N/m2) 1397 1344 1283 1207 1109 958 941 % Increase in Pressure wrt TIA222-G 29.9% 30.2% 28.9% 29.3% 30.0% 50.4% 53.1%

k2

Kz

1 2 3 4 5 6 7

30 25 20 15 10 5 0

1.10 1.08 1.05 1.02 0.98 0.98 0.98

1.26 1.21 1.16 1.09 1.00 0.87 0.85

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Table 5 Percentage Differences in Wind Pressures

Case No. 1* 2 3 Self-Support Tower Height (m) 30 60 90 Wind Pressure (N/m2) Range in IS: 875 1851 to 1441* 1848 to 1297 2018 to 1297 Wind Pressure (N/m2) Range in TIA-222-G 1397 to 941* 1616 to 941 1761 to 941 % of Increase in Wind Pressure WRT TIA-222-G 29.9% to 53.1%* 14.3% to 37.8% 14.6% to 37.8%

*:

See Table 4 for details

Figure 1 Wind Pressure Comparison for 30 m Self-Support Tower

WindPressureComparisionfor30mSelfSupportTower
2000 IS:875(Part3) TIA222G

DesignWindForce/(EPA)(N/m2)

1800 1600 1400 1200 1000 800 600 400 200 0

5 30 25 20 15 10 0
5 0

Height(m)

Figure 2 Wind Pressure Comparison for 60 m Self-Support Tower

WindPressureComparisionfor60mSelfSupportTower
2000 1800 IS:875(Part3) TIA222G

DesignWindForce/(EPA)(N/m2)

1600 1400 1200 1000 800 600 400 200 0

60

55

50

45

40

35

30

25

20

15

Height(m)

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10

Figure 3 Wind Pressure Comparison for 90 m Self-Support Tower

WindPressureComparisionfor90mSelfSupportTower
IS:875(Part3) 2500 TIA222G

DesignWindForce/(EPA)(N/m2)

2000

1500

1000

500

0
90 85 80 75 70 65 60 55 50 45 40 35 30 25 20 15 10 5 0

Height(m)

References: 1. Information Note to the Press (Press Release No. 42 /2010), TELECOM REGULATORY AUTHORITY OF INDIA, New Delhi, 7th September 2010

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