State of the art and numerical simulation of high voltage towers against high-intensity winds

Resumo

High-intensity winds, such as downburst storms, generally do not follow the pattern and characteristics
of normal synoptic extreme winds. Therefore, the winds produced by downburst storms must also be taken into
account when designing large structures, particularly in Uruguayan territory where they are frequent. In this paper,
a bibliographic review of synoptic winds is presented, making comparisons with the Uruguayan wind standard
UNIT 50:84 and specific high-intensity winds studies. On the other hand, a numerical simulation of a high-voltage

tower loaded by winds from a downburst storm, neglecting the oscillation of the cables. For the simulation, a non-
linear dynamic model using Finite Element Method (truss elements) was used. For dynamic analysis, the HHT

method provided by the ONSAS software was applied. For the period simulated, the safety factor of the structure
was obtained taking into account the creep of the tensile bars and elastic instability. Also it is verified the criteria
of AISC 360-16 Standard. Finally, the first five natural frequencies of the structure were found and the first four
modes are illustrated. The numerical simulations were carried out with codes developed in MATLAB together
with the ONSAS software. They are open and free codes and the link that contains the codes is presented in the
article.