A study on cover plate design and monopole strengthening application

To ensure that the cover plate will act with the existing member as a unit for structural strengthening, mechanic bases of cover plate design that need to be understood include the relationship between the shear stress flow, which determines the intermediate connections, and the bending stress of the reinforcing plate, which controls the end connection, the tension/compression strength of cover plate, the strength adequacy of end termination, the fatigue strength of end connection, etc. However, not much analytical study on these mechanic bases of cover plate design has been seen in either text books or technical articles. Inadequate comprehension of these mechanic bases of cover plate design is causing controversial interpretation of the design code specifications during the engineering practices, and some questionable designs have been observed. In addition to in-depth discussion of miscellaneous issues of cover plate design, this work presents a study of the mechanic bases of cover plate for structural strengthening. The cover plate reinforcement design for monopole is different from those for beams and stringers due to its distinctive structural and loading properties. Telecommunication industry standard TIA-222 does not address these issues so far. This paper reviews and discusses the most critical issues of cover plate design of beams and stringers, and addresses the monopole cover plate reinforcement design in detail. Rigorous design recommendations are proposed and discussed thoroughly based on the analytical investigation.