Full dynamic analysis of Tehran telecommunication tower; Linear and nonlinear responses

Dynamic response of large concrete tower structures with passive or active damping is important in terms of performance under dynamic loads. Structural instability mostly arises as a result of losing the energy capacity in the system, which forces the system to act as a mechanism. The purpose of this paper is to present three different finite element models to investigate the linear and nonlinear response of the Tehran telecommunication tower. The tower is ranked the fourth tallest structure in the world and has been under construction since 1997. Using a mathematical model, an efficient method is used to take into account the cracking and crushing of the reinforced concrete material as well as large deformation effects. The linear and nonlinear dynamic characteristics of the large tower may be defined by using an advanced formulation for the concrete element. Then, the proposed advanced element is used to model a full-scale finite element mesh to derive the dynamic response of the Tehran telecommunication tower structure with use of a computer program. Copyright (C) 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.