Merry Christmas from KAEG

We at KAEG believe that you should share what you have even when little and watch it multiply.  So even though it has been a tough year for all, as is customary for us at this time of the year, we tried to spread a little cheer. KAEG visited South Belfast Foodbank and Faversham Foodbank to support families and individuals that have been hard hit by the Year 2020.

As a result of the Pandemic, the Trussell Trust report a soaring 81% increase for emergency food parcels from Foodbanks, including a 122% rise in parcels given to children. The travel through 2020 has been a particularly unchartered journey for many if not all, leaving families with irreparable losses. We hope and pray that the Year 2021 will usher in healing and restoration from the impact of Year 2020.

We wish a Merry Christmas 2020 and a Happy New Year 2021 to our brilliant workforce, wonderful clients, families, friends, and our struggling neighbours who at this time find themselves dependent on the network of 428 Foodbanks and other forms of support to survive.

2D and 3D Headframe Analysis

Due to our extensive in-house structural design capabilities and experience, KA Engineering Group has been awarded many more headframe projects this year.

Headframes are built up steel structures carrying multiple telecommunication equipment supported on various primary structures, like monopole, stub tower and, lattice tower. They come in varying shapes including turret, triangular, square, hexagonal and circular headframes.

The structural analysis of a headframe may be performed using 2D or 3D finite element methods. 3D analysis is computationally expensive and can involve lengthy engineering man-hours. 2D analysis can be fast and effective, however, it requires comprehensive understanding of the whole structure so that a complex structure can be broken down into simpler parts that can be analysed using 2D method.

Furthermore, 2D analysis, in most cases, depends on significant assumptions in order to simplify the model, which potentially results in more onerous analysis results and may cause structure failure in analysis.  3D finite element analysis of headframe is able to capture the behavior of the whole structure at the level of each element and allow for better load distribution, which leads to more realistic and accurate predictions. KAEG structural team have delivered numerous headframe projects and we can use our expert knowledge to select the appropriate method for your application.

KAEG are always passionate in pursuing engineering excellence, best design practice and new technology to keep pace with increased industrial demand and provide our customers with cost-effective, reliable and fast turnaround design solutions. Contact our expert team at: info@ka-engroup.com to learn more and discuss how we can best serve your needs.

Impact of Feeder Arrangement

Feeder cables can FAIL a lattice tower, through exceeding the structural utilisation capacity, if not arranged thoughtfully. Carefully planned feeder arrangement in a simple system can reduce the utilisation of the lattice tower legs by 15% and reduce the tower brace utilisation by nearly 40%!

Without adequate forethought, a telecommunication system with 16 feeder cables on a tower may be arranged in stacks of 1 or 2. This leads to wind load across eight, or even 16 feeder surface areas.

We investigated the effect of feeder arrangements on tower utilisation. We placed four antennas at the top of an existing 30m square lattice tower, fed by 16 typical sized feeders in a variety of different arrangements. To replicate a common tower arrangement, the structure also included a ladder mounted on one of the tower faces.

What We Found

Our analyses showed the maximum tower utilisation with the feeders stacked in a single row of 16, mounted on one leg, adjacent to the ladder location. Minimum utilisation was from feeders stacked in rows of four, mounted on a leg that is not directly supporting the ladder.

The difference in structural utilisation between these two scenarios was 15% for the tower legs, and 38% for the tower braces!

A surprising find was the structural utilisation from the feeders separated into groups of four, stacked in rows of two, mounted on each leg. The leg and brace utilisation were greater than those in the minimum scenario by 5% and 6% respectively.

Take Away Message

Feeders must be arranged with tower loading in mind. With less loading from feeders, more ancillaries can be placed on the tower, resulting in a more useful AND more financially profitable structure.

Check your existing towers. Check your proposed towers. Think about how the feeders are, or are proposed to be, arranged:

  • Are the feeders helping to distribute the loads more evenly throughout the tower?
  • Are the feeders stacked in the most efficient manner to reduce wind load on the structure?

KAEG continues to leverage our expertise to maximise the structural potential of your asset. Contact our expert team at: info@ka-engroup.com to learn more and discuss how we can best serve your needs.