Full-scale monitoring of a telecommunication lattice tower under synoptic and thunderstorm winds

This paper presents a full-scale monitoring system installed on a 50 m tall telecommunication lattice tower located in Sânnicolau Mare, Romania. The system has the dual purpose of measuring wind velocity and the wind-induced response of the tower, with particular attention to thunderstorms. It includes an ultrasonic anemometer, a temperature sensor, two triaxial accelerometers, six strain gauges and a video camera system. A first set of data recorded between January 2021 and December 2022 is analyzed in order to compare the dominant properties of thunderstorm and synoptic wind records and reveal the corresponding structural response. An improved approach to wind characterization based on anemometric and video data is proposed to separate the wind records into depressions and thunderstorms, highlighting the innovative use of video sequence to support classification of events. Anemometric and video data related to detected depressions and thunderstorms are presented, together with their full statistical characterizations. Wind induced structural response due to depression and thunderstorm records are described in terms of acceleration and strain. Patterns of depression and thunderstorm-induced response are presented, with the aim of emphasizing their diversity and complementing the identification of thunderstorms. Correlation of simultaneous wind velocity and structural response records is finally analyzed. • A wind and structural monitoring system for a telecommunication lattice tower is presented. • Wind records are separated and classified. • Gust factors obtained from measured data are used for extraction of thunderstorm records. • Sky video cameras allow the identification of novel typologies of thunderstorms. • Full-scale structural behavior of lattice towers to depression and thunderstorm records is presented.