At 11:50 PM -0500 12/4/01, Fred Hopengarten <k1vr@juno.com> wrote:
> On Sun, 02 Dec 2001 02:15:48 -0600 K9AJ <mcgirr@interaccess.com> writes:
>>
>>
>> > http://www.ky3.com/newsdetailed.asp?id=1706
>
> K1VR: The photos at this URL stand for the proposition that the tower
> did not fall the length of its height.
Fred, I think what this proposes is that the common failure mode for a
tall broadcast tower is a vertical downward crushing failure from
excessive weight and other vertical stresses. With all guy supports
intact, it crumples about its base.
For (relatively) short guyed amateur towers under 100 feet the most
common failure mode is that of a broken guy support from excessive
horizontal forces. While the failure of a top guy of a multi-level
guyed tower might constrain the debris radius by allowing top sections
to fold around lower guy supports, this would still not be the classic
downward crumple observed in the TV tower.
I dare say if the TV tower had suffered the total loss of one of its
upwind guy supports, it, too, would have fallen like a giant tree.
73, Dick
--
Dick Flanagan W6OLD CFII Minden, Nevada
Visit http://www.cvrc.net/
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