On Fri, 4 Apr 97 04:34:03 UT "Joe Spinosa" <Spinosa@msn.com> writes:
>Hi Roger,
>
>I can tell you that when I applied for a permit to erect a tower in my
>city,
>part of the reason they denied it was that they felt that if it ever
>collapsed
>it could/would destroy neighboring property.
>
>In fact, they wanted a huge margin. If the tower was going to be 50
>feet
>tall, they would want at least 75 feet of clearance in all directions.
>
>This notion has physically been shown to be false. I can't remember
>the exact
>specification, but its something like 33% of the height of the tower.
>In
>other words, a 50' tower should fail/fall into a circle about 17' in
>diameter.
>
>I'm not an engineer, but that's what I'm told.
>
>I think the numbers are important to show municipalities like mine,
>because
>it's one of those aspects of engineering that seems to be
>counter-intuitive to
>the lay-person.
The 2000 ft tower collapsed on itself because of a structural failure
within the tower, much like when they demolish buildings by blowing
out the support members.
Best Regards,
Joe Spinosa
KF6CWX
Concord, CA
Reply from N4KG:
With an ANCHOR failure, the tower will fall over, most likely extending
to it's full height.
With a guy wire failure, numerous possibilities present themselves.
For short towers with a single set of guys, it will likely fall over, to
it's
full height. With multiple sets of guys, it may buckle out at a mid
point
or fold over at some mid point, depending on which guy failed.
de Tom N4KG
--
FAQ on WWW: http://www.contesting.com/towertalkfaq.html
Submissions: towertalk@contesting.com
Administrative requests: towertalk-REQUEST@contesting.com
Problems: owner-towertalk@contesting.com
|