LAUSR

Abstract The seismic performance of monopole transmission towers under the near-fault earthquake excitations are evaluated in this paper and some innovative solutions are presented to enhance their seismic behaviour. To this purpose, two benchmark concrete transmission towers are selected as case studies. The towers differ in the used materials, which are high-performance and ultra-high-performance concretes. In order to improve the tower performance under seismic actions, an isolation system with and without tendon elements are installed. The tendon gross-sectional area, effective length, and post-tensioning force are considered as three important factors, which affect the behavior of the structure equipped with isolation system. The tower top acceleration and displacement responses are evaluated and used to identify the optimal ranges of the above-mentioned design parameters. Accordingly, detailed finite element models are built in OpenSees environment in order to conduct non-linear time-history analyses under some near-fault ground motions. The results of the analyses show that the application of the isolation system may improve the displacement response of the tower, but it may cause an increase of the acceleration responses due to the impact of the isolators with their external boundary. In contrast, the addition of the tendon elements with proper characteristics improves the overall responses of the isolated towers.