Central Water and Power Research Station, Poona.
To avoid large bending moments developing in the individual columns of a steel tower, proper proportioning of the sections of the columns and horizontal and diagonal members is necessary. An experimental study using Begg’s Deformeter method was taken up to arrive at the proper sections of the various members. The study showed that increase of the columns section beyond a limit disturbs the truss action assumed in the analysis and each individual column tends to act as a separate cantilever developing high bending moments. In the particular case studied, the experimental studies showed that the weight of the columns could be considerably reduced without decreasing the strength of the structure.
