A novel method for determining effective length factors for solid round steel leg members of guyed lattice towers with cross-bracing

• Published in: Canadian journal of civil engineering Vol. 30; no. 4; pp. 780 - 786
• Main Authors: Ding, Yongcong, Ghrib, Faouzi, Bhattacharjee, Sudip, Madugula, Murty K.S
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Ottawa, Canada NRC Research Press 01.08.2003; National Research Council of Canada; Canadian Science Publishing NRC Research Press
• Subjects: Applied sciences; Building structure; Buildings. Public works; Construction (buildings and works); Exact sciences and technology; Lattice; Metal structure; Steel construction; Stresses. Safety; Structural analysis. Stresses; Telecommunications towers; Finite element method; Structural design; Cablenet tower; Brace; Length; Numerical simulation; Welded construction; Stiffness; Structural steel; Computing method; Lattice structure
• ISSN: 0315-1468; 1208-6029
• DOI: 10.1139/l03-027

A novel method is presented for determining the effective length factors (K factors) for solid round steel leg (vertical) members in all-welded guyed communication towers with cross-bracing. Deflections due to an arbitrary load were used to determine the restraining moments and rotational stiffness of the legs. Using the closed-form solution for buckling of a column with rotational restraint at both ends, K factors were computed. From the study it is found that the K factors varied from 0.61 to 1.00, depending on the relative sizes of the leg and bracing members. An expression for estimating the effective length factors for solid round steel leg members of all-welded guyed lattice towers with cross-bracing is developed.Key words: cross-bracing, effective length factor (K factor), finite element analysis, guyed lattice tower, solid round steel leg member, welded tower.