Influence of Initial Guy Tension and Antenna Masses in the Sensor Layout for Dynamic Characterization of Guyed Masts

Sensitivity analysis plays an important part in the validation of a sensor layout for the identification of the dynamic response of a system. Although sensitivity analysis has been implemented for this purpose in several civil engineering structures, there are still uncertainties in the case of more complex, nonlinear systems, such as guyed masts, where small changes in mass or stiffness can result in large variations of the general dynamic behavior. This paper describes the influence of antenna masses and initial guy tension variation in the total number and position of sensors required to assess the dynamic response of tall guyed mast telecommunication towers. For the study, the computational models of four different guyed masts were generated and a sensor layout was obtained for each model using a sensitivity analysis. Then, the proposed sensor layouts were verified for different initial guy tensions and total antenna mass of the system, by means of the Modal Assurance Criterion. The principal finding is that initial guy tension presents the highest influence on the variation of correspondence values between mode shapes, with modifications of these values in up to [Formula: see text]. This finding suggests that a preliminary sensor layout based on information provided by a computational model or structural drawings of a guyed mast may be rendered inefficient if there is variation in guy tension due to construction errors or relaxation of cables.