Ramboll Telecom

TOWER VERTICALITY
MEASUREMENT METHOD

Ramboll India Pvt. Ltd.

Office 04 & 05, Level 5, SLN Terminus, Survey # 133, Gachibowli, Hyderabad – 500032,
Telangana, India

Prepared By: GRS C hecked By: Approved By: KNSB

 Ramboll Telecom

Table of Contents

INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................................... 3

SETTING UP THE INSTRUMENT(TRANSIT) ................................................................... 3

CENTERING OF INSTRUMENT ....................................................................................... 3

LEVELLING................................................................................................................... 4

MEASURING THE HORIZONTAL ANGLE BETWEEN TWO POINTS.................................... 6

OBSERVATION MODE SCREEN “SHV” DISPLAY............................................................. 6

TOWER ALIGNMENT AND DEFLECTIONS INSPECTION BY TRANSIT .............................. 7

ANGULAR MEASUREMENT DETERMINATION METHOD TRIANGULAR TOWER ................. 9

ANGULAR MEASUREMENT DETERMINATION METHOD SQUARE TOWER....................... 12

PERMISSIBLE TOLERANCE ......................................................................................... 12

TOWER VERTICALITY DEFLECTION MEASUREMENT REPORT ...................................... 13

Ramboll India Pvt. Ltd.

Office 04 & 05, Level 5, SLN Terminus, Survey # 133, Gachibowli, Hyderabad – 500032,
Telangana, India

Prepared By: GRS C hecked By: Approved By: KNSB

 Ramboll Telecom

INTRODUCTION

The process for inspection of Tower Verticality, Tilt at leg sections, and deflections at any elevation by
comparing to the position of the Tower legs at the base is illustrated in this manual. Total station with 1”
(second) accuracy is recommended to perform the verticality inspections of Towers. Setting of Transit,
centring, levelling is exemplified following inspection method in details.

SETTING UP THE INSTRUMENT(TRANSIT)

Transit hereby refers the inspection equipment i.e. Total Station. Inspector need to locate the inst rument
based on Tower geometry. for triangular Tower leg azimuth is considered 0,120,240 degrees respectively.

Total station is required to set up next to the Tower azimuth(Leg-1)_0 Degree, perpendicular to Tower
bottom leg center with equal to the height of Tower+5meter in length.

CENTERING OF INSTRUMENT

1. Make sure the legs are spaced at equal intervals and the head is approximately level. Set the tripod so
that the head is positioned over the survey point. Make sure the tripod shoes are firmly fixed in t he
ground.

2. Place the instrument on the tripod head. Supporting it with one hand, tighten the centring screw on the
bottom of the unit to make sure it is secured to the tripod.

Ramboll India Pvt. Ltd.

Office 04 & 05, Level 5, SLN Terminus, Survey # 133, Gachibowli, Hyderabad– 500032,
Telangana, India

Prepared By: GRS C hecked By: Approved By: KNSB

 Ramboll Telecom

3. Looking through the optical plummet eyepiece, turn the optical plummet eyepiece to focus on the reticle.
Turn the optical plummet focussing ring to focus on the survey point.

4. Adjust the levelling foot screw to center the survey point in the optical plummet reticle.

LEVELLING

1. Roughly center the bubble in the circle level by either shortening the tripod leg closet to the offcenter
direct ion of the bubble or by lengthening the tripod leg farthest from the offcenter direction of the
bubble. Adjust one more tripod leg to center the bubble.

Ramboll India Pvt. Ltd.

Office 04 & 05, Level 5, SLN Terminus, Survey # 133, Gachibowli, Hyderabad – 500032,
Telangana, India

Prepared By: GRS C hecked By: Approved By: KNSB

 Ramboll Telecom

2. Power On the instrument. The electric circular level is displayed on the <Tilt>. “ ●” indicates the bubble
in circular level. The range of the inside circle is ±1.5’ and the range of the outside circle is ±6’.

3. Using levelling foot screws, center “●” in the circular level. First, turn the instrument until the telescope
is parallel to a line between levelling foot screws A and B for the X direction and levelling screw C for the
Y direction. When the bubble is in the center proceed to next step.

4. Loosen the centring screw slightly. Looking through the optical plummet eyepiece, slide the instrument
over the tripod head until the survey point is exactly cantered in the reticle. Retighten the centring screw
securely.
Check again to make sure the bubble in the electric circular level is centered. If not, repeat the
procedure starting from step 4.

Ramboll India Pvt. Ltd.

Office 04 & 05, Level 5, SLN Terminus, Survey # 133, Gachibowli, Hyderabad – 500032,
Telangana, India

Prepared By: GRS C hecked By: Approved By: KNSB

 Ramboll Telecom

MEASURING THE HORIZONTAL ANGLE BETWEEN TWO POINTS

1. Use the “0 SET” function to measure the included angle between two points. The horizontal angle can
be set 0 at any direction.
Sight the first target as right. Press [0Set]. [0SET] will flash, so press [0SET] again. The horizontal
angle at the first target becomes 0º 00’ 00”.

2. Sight the second target. The displayed horizontal angle (HA-R) is the included angle between two
points.

OBSERVATION MODE SCREEN “SHV” DISPLAY

Distance: Display status can be switched between SD(slope distance)/HD(horizontal distance)/VD(vertical

distance)
Vertical angle: The vertical angle display can be switched between Zenith (Z=0)/Horiz (H=0º)/Horiz
(H=±90º) To switch vertical angle/slope in %, press [ZA%] when allocated to the observation mode scree.
Horizontal angle: Press [R/L] to switch the display status between HA-R (horizontal angle right)/HA-L
(horizontal angle left). The capitalized letter in the operating icon indicates the currently selected mode.
Note: Horizontal distance and height difference are also displayed in “SHV dist.” display of observation
mode.

Ramboll India Pvt. Ltd.

Office 04 & 05, Level 5, SLN Terminus, Survey # 133, Gachibowli, Hyderabad – 500032,
Telangana, India
Prepared By: GRS C hecked By: Approved By: KNSB
 Ramboll Telecom

TOWER ALIGNMENT AND DEFLECTIONS INSPECTION BY TRANSIT

The method of estimating the Tower Verticality, Tilt at leg section axis, and deflection at any elevation by
comparing to the position of the Tower base is illustrated at below figure. Figure shows what
measurements are needed at each elevation to establish deflection and tilts at the selected elevations.

Ramboll India Pvt. Ltd.

Office 04 & 05, Level 5, SLN Terminus, Survey # 133, Gachibowli, Hyderabad – 500032,
Telangana, India
Prepared By: GRS C hecked By: Approved By: KNSB
 Ramboll Telecom

Transit hereby refers to the inspection equipment i.e. Total Station. Inspector need to locate the Total
station based on Tower geometry. for triangular Tower leg azimuth is considered 0º,120º,240 respectively.
Total station is required to set up next to t he Tower azimuth(Leg-1)_0º, perpendicular to Tower bottom
leg centre with respect to the height of Tower+5 meters from the tower leg in line to azimuth as
demonstrated in below figure.

Ramboll India Pvt. Ltd.

Office 04 & 05, Level 5, SLN Terminus, Survey # 133, Gachibowli, Hyderabad – 500032,
Telangana, India

Prepared By: GRS C hecked By: Approved By: KNSB

 Ramboll Telecom

ANGULAR MEASUREMENT DETERMINATION METHOD TRIANGULAR TOWER

Step-1: Total station setup starts by locating the instrument on a guy line or on the extended radial from
the center of the Tower passing through the nearest leg at the lowest point on the tower that can be seen
from the instrument’s position. This Transit location is typically PERPENDICULAR AND behind the outer leg
azimuth at a distance that will make it possible to observe the legs at the top of the Tower.

Step-2: Level the Instrument and center it on the nearest leg at the bottom, it is then centred on the leg
at the visible base of the Tower Leg and the horizontal angle in the Total station is set to Zero.

Step-3: Tilt the telescope up to the next level to be observed and estimate the fraction of the visible leg
diameter by which the center of the leg has moved from the vertical transit crosshair, positive to the
right, negative to the left as refer below figure.

HORIZONTAL ANGLE SET TO ZERO: AT CENTRE ON

THE LEG AT THE BASE OF THE TOWER,
PERPENDICULAR TO AZIMUTH_LEG.

ANGLE OF 359º 58' 30": TOWER LEG HAS BEEN

MOVED TO THE LEFT, THEREFORE THE ANGELS ARE
SUBTRACTED FROM 360º.

ANGLE OF 0º 02' 40": DEFLECTION MEASURED AT

THE TOP OF TOWER LEG, ELEVATION TO BE
RECORDED.

Step-4: Do this for every elevation of interest, and at the same time record the horizontal and vertical
angle to that known elevation (a section Joint is best).

Ramboll India Pvt. Ltd.

Office 04 & 05, Level 5, SLN Terminus, Survey # 133, Gachibowli, Hyderabad – 500032,
Telangana, India

Prepared By: GRS C hecked By: Approved By: KNSB

 Ramboll Telecom

Step-5: When all elevations have been observed and recorded, invert the telescope, rotate it horizontally
by 180° and repeat the readings. This repetition will remove the error in readings due to an error in the
level of the instrument. Do these steps for each of the three radials through the tower legs clockwise as
illustrated in below figures.

Step-06: Recorded readings for each line of sight than further derived from Degree/Minutes/Seconds to
Decimal degrees as illustrated in below table.

Leg
D1 Reading-Leg_A zimuth-A D2 Reading-Leg_A zimuth-B D3 Reading-Leg_A zimuth-C
Section/Elevation
Leg Leg Equip to Leg Equip to Leg Equip to Leg
45.72 63.0936 53.0352
Section Elve.(m) Dist.(m) Dist.(m) Dist.(m)
1 60 Degree Minute Second Degree Minute Second Degree Minute Second

Degrees entered as a 359º 58’ 30” 0º 2’ 40” 0º 3’ 0”

decimal will convert
to Deg, Min, Sec 359 0.96667 0.00833 0 0.03333 0.01111 0 0.05 0

A ngle as a decimal 359.9750 0.0444 0.0500

Ramboll India Pvt. Ltd.

Office 04 & 05, Level 5, SLN Terminus, Survey # 133, Gachibowli, Hyderabad – 500032,
Telangana, India

Prepared By: GRS C hecked By: Approved By: KNSB

 Ramboll Telecom

Step-07: Further the deflection at each point of interest on the Tower is measured by using the calculation
shown in below figure.

A =Face width at elevation

Step-08: Considering above calculation the deflection at X & Y to be calculated to get the actual verticality.
Verticality deflection within the Tower is exemplified in below table.

CALCULATED OUT OF
OBSERVED LEG DISPLACEMENTS CALCULATED TILT
PLUMB
Sighted Elev. A D1 D2 D3 d α x y r
e
(Meter) (mm) (mm) (mm) (mm) (mm) (Deg,) (mm) (mm) (mm)
0 762 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
45.7 762 -19.949 27.530 28.283 11.95 0.03 1.56 -0.44 -31.90 31.91
91.5 762 -28.815 48.942 46.277 22.13 0.05 2.88 1.54 -50.95 50.97

α (Deg,) “α” stands for Tilt deflection within the Tower elevations considering out of alignment of Legs
r (mm) “r” stands for resultant deflection of Tower Top center with respect to base center

Ramboll India Pvt. Ltd.

Office 04 & 05, Level 5, SLN Terminus, Survey # 133, Gachibowli, Hyderabad – 500032,
Telangana, India

Prepared By: GRS C hecked By: Approved By: KNSB

 Ramboll Telecom

ANGULAR MEASUREMENT DETERMINATION METHOD SQUARE TOWER

Inspection equipment Total Station is to be set up on each leg azimuth at the base of the tower. The
corresponding Tower leg at the base of the tower is used to set the vertical baseline. The deflection at each
point of interest on the Tower is measured from this vertical baseline, as shown below figure.

A =Face width at elevation

CALCULATED OUT OF
OBSERVED LEG DISPLACEMENTS CALCULATED TILT
PLUMB
Sighted A D1 D2 D3 D4 d α x y r
e
Elev. (mm) (mm) (mm) (mm) (mm) (mm) (Deg,) (mm) (mm) (mm)

PERMISSIBLE TOLERANCE

TOWER OUT OF PLUMB:

The horizontal distance between the vertical centrelines at any two elevations shall not exceed 0.25 percent
of the vertical distance between the two elevations.

TILT IN LEG ELEVATION:

The tilt between any two elevations shall not exceed 0.5 degrees in 3m(10 feet). The maximum tilt over
the structure height shall not exceed 5 degrees.

Ramboll India Pvt. Ltd.

Office 04 & 05, Level 5, SLN Terminus, Survey # 133, Gachibowli, Hyderabad – 500032,
Telangana, India

Prepared By: GRS C hecked By: Approved By: KNSB

 Ramboll Telecom

TOWER VERTICALITY DEFLECTION MEASUREMENT REPORT

PERMISSIBLE TILT @ TOWER ELEVATIONS WITH RESPECT TO BASE

TOWER HEIGHT IN METERS PERMISSIBLE TILT IN MILLIMETRES
100 250
90 225
80 200
70 175
60 150
50 125
40 100
30 75
27 68
24 60
21 53
18 45
15 38
12 30
9 23

TRANIST READINGS MEASURED FROM VERTICAL TOWER CENTER LINE

HEIGHT METER DEFLEC TION AZIMUTH-A DEFLEC TION AZIMUTH-B DEFLEC TION AZIMUTH-C
0 0 0 0
45.7 359º 58’ 30” 00º 01’ 30” 00º 01’ 50”
91.5 359º 57’ 50” 00º 02’ 40” 00º 03’ 00”

Prepared By Approved By Effective Date

16.11.2012
Gaurav Sharma K. Suresh Babu Format Number
Email: GRS@ramboll.com Email: KNSB@ramboll.com RTI/Verticality/IR/001_Rev01
Mobile: +91 9894470743 Mobile: +91 9966500012 Revision Date
29.10.2018

Ramboll India Pvt. Ltd.

Office 04 & 05, Level 5, SLN Terminus, Survey # 133, Gachibowli, Hyderabad – 500032,
Telangana, India

Prepared By: GRS C hecked By: Approved By: KNSB