Design recommendations and comparative study of FRP and steel guyed towers

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to explore the potential use of advanced composite materials as an alternative material to conventional steel to design and fabricate a lightweight fiber reinforced polymer (FRP) guyed towers. Both theoretical and experimental testing are involved. The paper offers recommendations for the design of composite towers using various non-linear finite element models. It contains a comparative cost analysis between an 81 m composite and a steel guyed tower both designed to resist identical loading conditions. The paper results confirmed that FRP tower creates more economically viable alternatives and sustainable solutions to steel towers in the future. Keywords: FRP, Guyed, Tower, Composite, Steel, ANSYS