Telescopic Joints in Steel Tube Towers

Modeling problems of new generation of steel shell towers supporting overhead power transmission lines and having telescopic joints are presented in this paper. The towers of such structure, designed according to the European standard EN 50341 [8], ensure high reliability even when subjected to high technological and climate loads. In this paper elements of differentiated reliability requirements are verified, and special attention is paid to the values of variable loads coefficients for different reliability classes of the considered structure. Using computer modeling tools and linear, elastic shell theory, the modeling error of telescopic joints in a sample tower supporting overhead power transmission line rated at 110 kV is estimated.