Damping of steel poles and monotubular towers under wind action

This paper studies the role of energy dissipation in the wind-excited response of steel poles and monotubular towers. Its first part formulates the equations of motion focusing the role of aerodynamic terms and damping coefficients; different physical phenomena involved in dissipation are studied through classical mechanical models. The second part describes the experimental activity performed to measure mechanical damping of full-scale poles. The joint use of experimental results and theoretical models highlights the different contributions involved in dissipation.