Engineering Commons^™

Capacity Assessment Of A Transmission Tower Under Wind Loading, Thomas G. Mara

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Transmission towers play a vital role in power distribution networks and are often subject to strong wind loads. Lattice tower design is often based on a linear elastic response to wind loading using methodology derived for atmospheric boundary layer (ABL) winds. A number of failures have been attributed to high intensity wind (HIW) events such as downbursts and tornadoes. This thesis investigates extreme winds on a self-supported lattice transmission tower and ultimately makes comparisons of the capacity under ABL and HIW. The force-deformation relation between the base shear and the displacement of the tip of the tower are used to …

Isolation As A Seismic Design Strategy For Bridges In The New Madrid Seismic Zone, Timothy E. Huff

Doctoral Dissertations

The seismic hazard in the New Madrid Seismic Zone (NMSZ) is primarily from the New Madrid Fault System (NMFS), which produced a series of large earthquakes in 1811-1812. Estimates of the magnitude of these earthquakes and the event magnitude appropriate for structural design in the New Madrid Seismic Zone vary greatly and have been the subject of much debate.

Current bridge design practice in the region relies primarily upon controlled damage by plastic hinging in columns/piles at piers to prevent collapse. Abutments are typically modeled with linear springs to represent piles and backfill stiffness. The usefulness, after a major seismic …