Method for Analysis of Guyed Towers

A method for static analysis of guyed towers is extended and applied to problems in three dimensions. The tower and guy cables may be loaded by arbitrary distributed or concentrated forces, or both, and there are no apriori assumptions about cable shape (such as the usual catenary assumption). The effect of axial forces as well as shear and twist deformations in the tower are taken into account. The base of the tower may be in any support condition between clamped and hinged including either extreme in each of three rotational degrees of freedom. Cables are handled by the Method of Imaginary Reactions. For the tower, highly accurate integration algorithms for the three dimensional beam column equations are presented. Results are applied to a 1500 foot tower bearing a 15 million pound platform and other loads, and supported by 20 cables attached in four clusters at the tope of the tower.