Dynamic characteristics of an 8.6 m lightweight FRP tower supporting mass on its top

The paper presents the results of an extensive experimental dynamic testing and numerical modelling conducted on the bottom segment of an 81 m glass fibre reinforced polymer (GFRP) guyed tower. The 8.6 m bottom segment was made up of four 2.15 m sections, each of which consisted of three composite cells. The cells were inter-connected using sleeve joints and were bonded together to form an equilateral triangle having sides of 450 mm. The guyed tower was tested under dynamic loadings with and with out carrying a mass on its top to evaluate its vibration performance. A modal analysis was also carried out on the tower with and without mass on top. The damped natural frequency of the flexural mode obtained from finite element without mass on top had a frequency of 6.1 Hz. The natural frequency obtained from testing was 5.50 Hz. The difference of 10.9% happened due to the loss of pre-stress in the cables indicates a good agreement of the natural frequency obtained from the analysis and from the vibration tests. The natural frequency without having mass was 10.67% higher than with mass on the top. The results confirmed the validity of the developed theoretical model.