The initial production scale of wind tower is very few. But recently, the production scale of wind tower structure has increased gradually because it maximizes the efficiency in green energy. Many researchers are studying the wind tower, but there is no study about the difference of allowable buckling stress of the wind tower with and without opening. Guideline of codes and standards are very limited when designing a wind tower with an opening. It is also rarely that a study considers the design of the wind tower to be a tubular shell with or without an opening. ABAQUS, a general purpose finite element program, which provides safety evaluation and economical standards for the design and behavior of the wind tower considering the effect of opening was used in the study. Finally, results from this study can serve as reference for structural engineers, manufacturers and further studies of wind turbine when designing a tubular shell wind tower with an opening.

In curved I-girder systems, stability is mainly provided by interconnecting cross-frames or diaphragms. These members act as primary load carrying component thus proper design and analysis must be made. This study proposes improvement on the existing cross-frame spacing limit for horizontally curved girder systems utilizing buckling capacities. Eigenvalue analysis was conducted using the finite element program, ABAQUS. Maximum cross-frames spacing (Smax) was computed with varying degree of curvature, flange width-to-depth ratio ( ) and span length-to-depth ratio (L/d). Models were then generated and their buckling modes and critical buckling capacity ratios were obtained. Lastly, a suggestion was developed based on the results of the finite element analysis to provide a better guide on the design of cross-frame spacing limit. The suggested limit was then compared to the existing cross-frame limit to verify the improvement on the cross-frame spacing.