Dynamic Response and Optimal Design of High Altitude Test Platform Under Extreme Wind Load

High altitude test platform is commonly used in desert environment, mainly for parking special equipment, the vertical and lateral dimensions would be 11.2 and 10 m when it is fully expanded. In practical work, the test platform will be forced by both equipment load and wind load. The maximum wind load typhoon will up to be level 12. The dynamic effect of high level wind load is non-negligible, however, the wind load is mainly treated to be a static load in existing studies. This paper studies the transient dynamic response of existing high altitude test platform under typhoon loads. The wind load curve is fitted by nonlinear piecewise function according to the measured typhoon speed time history data, a three-dimensional finite element model of the test platform is established by Hypermesh. The transient dynamic response of test platform system is analyzed by ANSYS and compared with the result when the equivalent static typhoon load is applied. The comparison show that the test platform maximum stress of transient dynamic analysis is much higher than the maximum stress of static analysis. Furthermore, based on the Design Codes of Steel and Building Structures and simulation results, an optimal design scheme about the existing high altitude test platform is proposed. Under the premise of ensuring the safety of the structural performance, the proposed optimal design scheme can reduce the system weight up to 16% which would greatly save the manufacturing cost.