Behavioral analysis of a mast with a combined prestressed stayed columns system and core of a spun concrete circular cross-section

Abstract

Widely used telecommunication structures are usually of the tower or mast type. For medium and tall telecommunications structures, tower-type constructions become less efficient compared to mast-type structures. The goal of our article is to discover a new, efficient telecommunication structure. For relatively low heights, tower systems can be designed with a continuous cross-section, in most cases using reinforced concrete elements. Among them, efficient spun concrete elements, whose load-bearing capacity is higher than that of ordinary solid reinforced concrete elements due to the technological features of their production, should be mentioned. A significantly higher efficiency of masts can be achieved by employing various combined structural systems that utilize a prestressed stayed columns system. It should be noted that there are not many solutions for prestressed stayed columns systems with spun concrete core elements and that research into their design and behavior is not yet sufficiently developed. The behavior of this combined structure is analyzed with regard to the geometric and physical nonlinearity of its elements. The strength and stability of the spun concrete core of such a combined system are evaluated. The impact of the prestressing of this prestressed stayed column structure on the internal forces and displacements of the reinforced concrete core is analyzed. The performance of the new structure compared to conventional tower and mast structures is presented. In the article, it has been determined that by applying the prestressed stayed columns system to telecommunication structures, the innovative structural system becomes 2.5 times more efficient than the classic mast and 5 times more efficient than the typical tower system on the mass criterion.