First Look at the New ANSI 222 Standards

An Inside Towers Exclusive

TO ORDER

In an industry where change comes frequently, new equipment, improved procedures, climatic events and accelerated demand have all contributed in pushing a new set of rules forward in the industry standards and practices. Through the collaboration of the Telecommunications Industry Association (TIA) and American National Standard Institute (ANSI), those new standards have been revised and today will be made available to the telecommunications industry and reissued as the ANSI/TIA-222-H.  Although the official announcement will be made later today, Inside Towers has been given an exclusive look at the new standards and permission, via TIA, to publish advanced access to the links to acquire the document itself.  

The cost of the ANSI/TIA-222-H is $750 and it can be purchased by following this link.

“This new revision will keep the industry moving in the right direction,” Task Group Chairman Mark Malouf, President of Malouf Engineering Int’l, told Inside Towers.  Overseeing the Editorial Committee and various Ad Hoc Committees was a daunting task for the Chairman, considering all of the ground that had to be covered. Beginning the revision in 2013, Malouf coordinated the efforts and input of over 100 companies comprised of individuals from many backgrounds including: manufacturers, owners, consulting engineers, government entities, research and construction industries.

The purpose of the new Standard is to cover the requirements for most antenna supporting structures, antennas and small wind turbine support structures. For structures with special conditions, the standard includes provisions to address these situations.    

“The design needs to be carried out by a licensed professional engineer qualified in the specific design methods and materials to be used,” Malouf said, “and they will provide a level of safety and performance equal to or better than what’s implicit in this Standard.”

Some of the highlights of the new Standard according to Malouf, are:

• Use of ultimate peak gusts instead of 3-second gusts of wind.  “We’ve incorporated the newer weather data that uses additional weather stations’ records and improved modeling of hurricane models and now the load factor is built into the maps based on the risk category,” Malouf said.  The four risk categories are in line with the national standards and include more expanded definitions based on service usage, hazard exposure, risk to human life and hazard to the community and are designed to clarify their use and expedite zoning approval.
• The design section has been updated and enhanced. “All provisions for design strength are updated in line with latest steel standard,” Malouf said, including anchor bolts, angles, pole flanges and addition of u-bolts section.
• Seismic loading considerations: Seismic evaluation is now required for all structures, not just high seismic regions, and provisions have been updated per the new ASCE standard.  Foundations detailing have been upgraded to incorporate requirements for high seismic regions.
• Climbing facilities: climbing facilities’ strength and dimensional requirements are revised to be in sync with industry standards, including step-bolt placement requirements.  
• Analysis of existing structures: addition of evaluation of proposed changes by using base-line analysis vs. proposed changes analysis.  Use of target reliability for alternate method.  Annex added to inform about wind-induced vibrations on taller towers.  New section for mounts that include load combination for maintenance load and seismic load on them.
• Inspections: addition of new annexes to address the required inspection of new structures and existing structures modifications installation.

Those who led the Task Group and Ad Hoc committees are:

Editorial Committee  

• Mark Malouf, PE, SECB, IPF (TR14 Vice-Chair) Malouf Engineering
• John Erichsen, PE, SE (TR14 Chair)  EET
• Bryan Lanier, PE, SE (TR14 Secretary) American Tower
• David Brinker, PE, SE Rohn Products
• Stephen Yeo, PE Rohn Products
• Peter Chojnacki, Tower Numerics Inc.

Ad Hoc Committees Leads

• Madison Batt, PE, SE Tower Engineering
• Peter Chojnacki Tower
• Ping Jiang, PE Black & Veatch
• Bryan Lanier, PE, SE, CWI American Tower
• Kenneth Gilbert, PE, PMP American Tower
• Scott Kisting Proactive Telecommunications
• Raphael Mohamed, PE, PEng MasTec
• Christopher Ply, PE, SE FDH Velocitel
• Michelle Kang, PE  SSOE
• Ronald Glover, PE, Tower Engineering Professional

By Jim Fryer, Inside Towers Managing Editor

October 20, 2017