ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Mech. Eng.

Sec. Mechatronics

Volume 11 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fmech.2025.1584991

Finite Element Model Analysis of Bolt Overlap for Angle Steel Connections of 5G Shared Transmission Towers

Provisionally accepted
Weizhou  XuWeizhou Xu1Yashan  HuYashan Hu1Ya  DaiYa Dai1Nan  ZhangNan Zhang1Teng  TongTeng Tong2*
  • 1Economic Research Institute Grid Jiangsu Electric Power Co, Ltd, Nanjing, Liaoning Province, China
  • 2Southeast University, Nanjing, China

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

The overlap strength of angle steel connection bolts significantly affects the change of node failure mode in the construction of 5G shared transmission towers, thereby affecting the bearing capacity of components. This study conducted an in-depth exploration of this issue using a finite element model. By simulating various common bolt lap strengths, it was found that the optimized angle steel connection significantly improved the bolt lap strength. The average result reached 7900N, much higher than the traditional 2000N and improved 5800N. Subsequently, the research found that increasing the lap strength from 100 MPa to 500 MPa did not significantly increase the torsional bearing capacity of angle steel connections. At 500-800MPa, the torsional bearing capacity of the angle steel connection gradually increased. For various working conditions, such as Y-direction working conditions and peak wind load working conditions, the optimized bolt overlap of angle steel connections had shown good performance. Specifically, the stress-strain ratio values at all positions were greater than 2.4Gpa, and the maximum displacement of bolt overlap was 8.67mm. When the tower height was above 180m, the material strength, tower joint strength, and other bearing capacities fallen within the range of 17.87 to 19.98MPa. The maximum lap strength of the bolt occurred at the central axis of the bolt, approximately 2.5MPa. The optimized bolt overlap of angle steel connection had significant advantages in improving material bearing capacity, ensuring structural stability and safety. This will have practical significance for the design and construction of 5G shared transmission towers, helping to improve their operational efficiency and service life.

Keywords: 5G, Iron towers, Bolt, Shared transmission, finite element model, Angle steel

Received: 28 Feb 2025; Accepted: 07 Jul 2025.

Copyright: © 2025 Xu, Hu, Dai, Zhang and Tong. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

* Correspondence: Teng Tong, Southeast University, Nanjing, China

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