Wind Loading of a Paraboloidal Antenna Dish Supported on a Telescopic Extendable Mast by

D.C. Webb and K.Kormi School of Engineering, Leeds Metropolitan University, Calverley Street, Leeds LS1 3HE, UK.

Summary The effects of high winds on an extended mast carrying a paraboloidal antenna dish are investigated. The dish is supported on a telescopic column of 4 x 1m long tubes each with an overlapped region of 20cm. The upper end of the column, at a height of 3.4 m, supports a 0.5 m long arm, which is joined perpendicularly to a 0.25 m link, which is in turn connected to the center of the dish. The overlapping parts of the columns are constrained together using multiple constraints in an explicit analysis, but in a standard analysis are connected using a series of interface elements, of type ITT31, and slide lines. The dish is subjected to a wind loading of 180-kph and a dynamic analysis is performed over a period of 0.5 sec. Two cases are considered in the first the base column node is fixed in position, in the second case it is given a forward velocity of 5ms-1 and its passage over a rough terrain is monitored. The dynamic model incorporates three dashpot elements to simulate intermediate rubber bush supports but a static analysis is also carried out for the same maximum displacement as the dynamic case. A simple theory is developed for the situation and the results compared with the FE analyses. Several interesting features emerge.

Introduction In the age of mobile telecommunications it is often necessary to set up temporary radio or microwave transmitting and receiving stations. Depending on the geographical nature of the surroundings, the transceiver dish may need to be deployed on an extendible support to obtain good signal quality. Such a configuration is obviously vulnerable to high winds and the purpose of this exercise was to investigate such a system and how it might respond to various conditions of movement and wind loading. Model Geometry The model is composed of a dish and a telescopic supporting mast. The mast consists of 4 hollow tubular sections 1m in length, each of a progressively reduced external diameter so that

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they can slide inside each other. When extended, each column has a 20-cm overlap region and so together they form a 3.4 m high mast. The top end of the mast is attached to an L-shaped extension arm attached orthogonally to the mast. Nodes at the top end of the mast and on the Lshaped arm at the location of slope discontinuities are defined individually and, although some share identical co-ordinates, they have different node numbers. The nodes at the turning point of the arm have their rotational and translational degrees of freedom constrained together. The paraboloidal antenna dish has a depth of 7.322 cm and a radius of 44.2 cm and its centre is constrained to the end of the shorter length of the L-shaped arm. The geometrical features and the sectional properties of the model components are given in Table 1. Table 1 - Model Features Radius Cross Thickness Sectional (cm) Area (cm2) 3.5 5.30
3.25 0.25 3.0 0.25
2.75 0.25

Mast Columns

Length (cm)

Overlapping region (cm) 20.0 20.0 20.0 20.0

1 2 3 4

100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0

Bending area moment (cm4) 30.25 24.00 18.70 14.25

Torsional area Moment (cm4) 60.50 48.00 37.40 28.50

0.25

4.91 4.52 4.12

The components of the L-shaped arm are of length 50.0 and 25.0 cm with an outer diameter and thickness of 30 and 25-mm respectively see Table 2.

Table 2 L-shaped Arm Features Long side Short side (cm/cm)

50.0 25.0

Radius Thickness (cm)

30.0 0.25

Cross sectional Area (cm2) 4.52

Bending area Moment (cm4) 18.7

Torsional area Moment (cm4) 37.4

A necessary condition for a positive model structural stiffness is the inclusion of a constraint algorithm in data input files. Two different cases are studied using ABAQUS [1] employing quasi-static and dynamic solutions. The former uses ABAQUS standard while the latter employs the explicit version of the code. These two different approaches require continuity to

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be provided differently. In the static analysis, ITT31 interface elements and linear slide lines are used for the overlapping region of the mast columns - Fig. 1 (right hand side). In the dynamic explicit analysis, the nodes in the overlapping region of the columns are constrained to move together in translation and rotation. In this case, the model motion in the fully unloaded state is damped using 4 linear dashpot elements of the type DASHPOTA, with a damping coefficient of 0.05 N per unit velocity (mm/sec). In the actual situation supporting rubber rings constrain the lateral motion of the mast and the dashpot elements are used to perform this function. Model discretisation In both the standard and explicit solution procedures, the mast and the L-shaped arm were defined by 2 noded linear space beam (B31) elements. The central zone of the paraboloidal antenna dish was discretised using 3 noded shell elements (S3R) and the remaining part, a paraboloidal annular ring, was modelled using 4 noded shell (S4R) elements. Contact between the overlapping sections of the mast columns were modelled as described in the previous section. Other constraints were applied to tie together the top of the mast and the L-shaped arm, the two sections of the arm at its turning point, and the arm and the centre of the dish.

One particular case considered in the dynamic analysis was that in which the base is moving up and down in the vertical direction (simulating its passage over a rough terrain) while at the same time moving in the x direction with a constant velocity of 5 ms-1.

Material properties Paraboloidal dish The dish is made of aluminium with linear elastic property characteristics as follows: Modulus of elasticity Poissons ratio Density Mast and L-shaped arm Ea = 0.67 x 105 Nmm-2 a = 0.33 a = 2.71 gr.cm-3

The material is made of mild steel with linear elastic poperties:

Modulus of elasticity Poissons ratio Density Es = 2.05 x 105 Nmm-2 s = 0.3 s = 7.83 gr.cm-3

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The steel material work hardening properties are shown in Table 3. Table 3. Steel work hardening material properties 278.0 297.0 323.6 354.3 380.8 398.3 418.0 Stress (Nmm ) pl 0 2 4 6 8 10 12 Strain (%) 450.8 464.0 427.7 482.3 494.6 498.9 475.4 Stress (Nmm2) pl 16 18 20 22 24 26 26.5 Strain (%)
2

433.0 14 453.0 26.75

The behaviour of the steel material in the plastic region exhibits a strain rate dependency as expressed by power law:
1 pl n d ( pl ) = y ( pl )1 + D

(1)

The constants D and n were chosen to be D = 6500 s-1 and n = 5.1 and

y (

) ( )
pl

is the dynamic yield stress at effective plastic strain is static yield stress at effective plastic strain of is effective plastic strain rate s
1 pl

pl

Nmm-2

pl

Nmm-2

Loading

pl

Quasi static case In this case it is assumed that a wind velocity of 180 kph (50 ms-1) has its direction of motion changed, on contact with the dish, by an angle of 90o. (The back void formation and the eddy turbulent current effects are neglected). The actual change of momentum per second P is therefore:

P = [ air air ] air

1 air = 1.23 kg m 3 and air = 50 ms ,

(2)

for then:

P = 3075 Pa

or

P = 3.075 x 10 3 mm-2

Because of the rotational symmetry of the antenna dish (and neglecting the change in dish geometry due to the loading action) the force acting at the dish centre can be calculated as FH where:

FH = 943.4 N

(3)

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In the static analysis the load is defined by a uniformly distributed load (DLOAD).

Dynamic case In this case, the load is applied over a period of 0.1 sec and the mast base remains fixed. In an additional case, the base is given a vertical motion of 0.4s period in the vertical (z) direction with a peak and trough amplitude of 50 mm and the whole model is moved with a velocity of 5 ms-1 in the x direction. Theory applicable to quasi static solution procedure For a beam under static loading and subjected to torsional bending, transverse shear and axial loading - the strain energy is given by:
l l l l

U =
o

M2 T2 V2 F 2l dx + dx + dx + dx 2 EI 2GJ 2 AG 2 AE o o o
m2 Ncm-2 N Ncm-2 cm4 m4 .cm N.cm N.cm N

(4)

where A = cross section area E = modulus of elasticity F = axial for a G = shear modulus I = second bending area moment J = second polar area moment M = bending moment T = torque U = member strain energy V = transverse shear

Considering the rotational symmetry of the antenna dish, the beam strain energy is given by equation 4, and is exerted at the dish centre. Equation (4) can be integrated over the beam and column assembly components. However, special care must be taken over the overlapping segments of the columns. The partial derivative of the strain energy with respect to the applied force F will yield the central displacement of the dish in the y direction. The calculated results prove to be virtually identical to the computed values.

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Results and discussion The models employed in the static and dynamic analyses are shown in Fig 1a. The dashpot elements incorporated in the model for the dynamic analysis represent the system motion attenuation subsequent to unloading. Fig. 1b shows the deformed shape of the model at the fully loaded state for both static and dynamic analyses. The deformation produced in the dynamic loading case is magnified by a factor of 2 - the extent of the actual deformation is moderated by inertia effects and is therefore smaller than in the static case. For both cases the deformed and undeformed shapes are superimposed.

Fig 2a shows the energy components of the model plotted against dish centre displacement in the y direction. The energy is comprised of recoverable strain energy, plastic work dissipation (causing partial plastic hinge formation at the anchorage point) and model internal energy (which is the sum of the recoverable and plastic dissipated energy). The central dish

displacement of 20 cm induces no plastic flow anywhere in the model. Fig 6a shows the temporal variation of kinetic energy, recoverable strain energy, plastic dissipated work, viscous work (dissipated in the dashpots) and internal energy.

The incomplete hinge formation at the base point of the mast supports a damped transitory oscillatory system motion. The components of reaction force at the base of the mast are shown in Fig 2b, and the peak value of the y component is identical to that calculated from expression [3]. In an ideal situation (without dish distortion) the magnitude of the reaction force in the x direction at the anchorage point must be zero. The small value shown in Fig 2b is due to the combined effects of distortion and deformation of the supporting frame. Fig 5a shows the reaction force components for dynamic case. The boundary and constraint conditions are identical to those of the static case, however the results obtained from the dynamic analyses show fluctuating values. The abscissa in the static case is displacement of the dish centre in the y direction, but for the dynamic case this is more difficult to plot and is very complex the temporal variation is presented instead. The bending and torsional reactions are given in Figs 3 and 4 for static and dynamic loading cases respectively. The peak value of the moment in the yz plane can be calculated by multiplying the force at the centre of the dish by the column length. In Fig. 3 for the static case, SM3 is the torsion computed at peak load and is equal to the product of the force applied at the

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centre of the dish and the long length of the L-shaped arm. This value remains constant over the entire mast length. SM2 is the bending variation over the mast length and its magnitude is influenced by the second area moment of the column. Since the value of the area moment over the overlapping zone is almost doubled, the associated bending is halved. This is also the case for the SM1 bending component.

The damping effect, which is the cause of the transitory oscillatory motion, can best be seen from the velocity displacement (phase diagram) plot in Fig 6b. The curves presented and identified by ph300 and ph126 are the responses of the antenna centre and the point at the slope discontinuity on the L-shaped arm. The other dynamic case analysed is for simulated motion over a rough terrain that is periodic in nature (with a peak to trough value of 50 mm). The terrain profile and the displacement of the centre of the dish in the y direction are plotted in Fig 7b. In this case the whole model is moving forward along the x-axis with a constant velocity of 5 ms-1. The temporal energy profiles is plotted in Fig 7a, which, except for the kinetic energy component, is almost identical to the energy profiles given in Fig 6a. The anchorage point of the mast is subjected to a vertical displacement and the deformed configurations at 50, 100 and 150 msec are shown in Fig. 8. The base displacement is shown in Fig. 9 as a function of time.

Conclusions The FEM is an effective tool which can be used to analyse similar problems to the one outlined here under static or dynamic loading. The present analyses can be improved by replacing the beam elements with either continuum C3D8R, C3D8I and S4R (static) and C3D8R and S4R (dynamic) elements. The contact surfaces in both cases can then be defined in the same way, but the CPU requirement will be several order of magnitudes higher than the case presented here.

Reference 1. Hibbit, H.D., Karlsson, B.I. and Sorenson, P., ABAQUS Users Manuals Vers. 6.2, HKS Inc., Rhode Island, USA, 2001.

2002 ABAQUS Users Conference