CW Milestone – Part 8 - Tower Erection (And Recommended Torque Values)

Following must be ensured in installing different tower accessories:



Tower Erection In Progress



Lightening arrestor to be installed on legs adjacent to ones where BTS equipment is placed.

Antenna and dish mounts must be installed at heights and angles depicted in technical documents.

Fall arrest must be properly installed.

Rest platforms must be installed at the specified heights.

All the tower bolts must conform to the allowable torque limits.



Torque Wrenches



Ensure that torque wrench is being calibrated before use.

Torque test would be applied after finishing of tower erection by subcon in front of CW Engineer to ensure the tightening of tower nut & bolts up to the standards.

Tower Nut & Bolt Essentials

       It is to be ensures by a Civil Engineer by client or at least by major vendor to check the nuts and bolts supplied by tower manufacturer are of good quality and of high tensile strength. There are two possibilities for tower supplies. One is that tower is supplied by a company which manufacture its own tower. That is they have their in-house designers, set standards and manufacturing. Such supplies are more reliable and have good standards of quality. 2^nd scenario is that, which is becoming common now a days that a client or major vendor get their tower designed by a trusted designer, according to their own specific needs. And then they bid from local manufacturer for manufacturing of designed towers and come in agreement to those who have lowest rates. Later supply models need to be scrutinized carefully by occasional detailed quality audits, quality inspection of material before dispatch and at arrival on site.  

ISO grade 5.8 and 8.8 grades are normally recommended by designer. The number prior to the decimal point is approximately 1/100 of the nominal minimum tensile strength of the bolt in N/mm2 or MPa.The number following the first decimal point is more or less the ratio between the minimum yield stress and the minimum tensile strength, times ten. Grade 8.8 nuts and bolts are more durable and reliable.

Whatever the case is, it is highly recommended to use same grade of nuts for whole tower structure. Below are some common toque values used in tower telecom erections. Note: These values are just for a guide only if torque values recommended by designer or manufacturer are different then prefer those.

Bolt Dia.	ISO Grade	Minimum Torque		Recommended  Torque		ISO Grade	Recommended Torque
		(N-m)	(lb-ft)	(N-m)	(lb-ft)		(N-m)	(lb-ft)
M10	5.8	15	11.1	22	16.2	8.8	31	22.9
M12	5.8	40	29.5	55	40.6	8.8	54	39.8
M16	5.8	78	57.5	110	81.1	8.8	130	95.9
M20	5.8	120	88.5	170	125.4	8.8	255	188.1
M22	5.8	145	106.9	206	151.9	8.8
M24	5.8	150	110.6	200	147.5	8.8	440	324.5
M36						8.8	1550	1143.2

After tower erection, all the necessary tower accessories like cable ladder, lightening arrestor, fall arrest system, tower lights and mounts (both antenna & dish mounts) are installed as per technical documents.
Below are some more hotographs of tower erection in progress

CW Milestones Part-5 – Concrete pouring of foundation pad and columns for tower (Greenfield Site)

Once the proper layout, excavation and lean concreting (CW Milestone Part -4) has been done, it comes now the time for steel fixing. The steel for pad/s and columns is then cut and bent according to bar bending schedule. In the meanwhile the size of foundation is marked over the lean layer. The steel for foundation is then fastened with the help of binding wires and placed over spacers to give specified cover in both horizontal and vertical directions. The main reinforcement for columns is also fastened which is extending from top right into the foundation re-bars. 

Workers tying steel ribs for foundation columns



Milestones of Construction Work On Network Rollout Turnkey Project

On a GSM (or any other Telecom) site there are some activities in which Civil Works team is either fully involved or at least participated (or represented) in the activity.  Those activities in which civil works is only represented is basically the one which have ownership with other departments. But due to some sort of support work or participation is required from civil works, so it has to spare its resources for those activities.

1.       Technical Site Survey (CW+SA+RF+Transmission) (Normally owned by Site Acquisition )

2.       Work Package Approval (Process is owned by Design Department or by CW if design is totally externalized/outsourced)

3.       Site Kick off (The process is owned by Site Acquisition, however this is the activity in which site location is handed over from Site Acquisition to Civil Works, so in order to rule out the waste of money time and resources and chances of not meeting the target, at some later stage, CW representative has to take necessary measure. He/She has to mark all area which will be included in Construction, has to clearly tell site owner if any destruction is required, estimated time of construction etc.etc. )

4.       Excavation + Layout + Lean concrete (Complete CW Activity)

5.       Concrete Pouring (Pad + Columns) (Complete CW Activity)

6.       Backfilling + Top slab concreting (Complete CW Activity)

7.       Boundary wall (Complete CW Activity)

8.       Tower Erection + Accessories installation (Complete CW Activity )

9.       Generator installation & commissioning (Complete CW Activity)

10.   AC Power Inspection (Power Meter+ ACDB+ Intake box) (Complete CW Activity)

11.   Shelter or Sunshade Installation and (if applicable) Guardroom Installation (Complete CW Activity)

12.   Declaring site RFI (Ready for Installation) (Complete CW Activity, The activity is important in a sense that normally time from Kickoff to RFI is an important KPI among other indicators. This is because during this time only civil works department can do work on site and  is considered one of the main bottle necks in such projects. Once the site is declared RFI other teams of project like Telecom Implementation, BSS, Care can also do their due work on site along with other minor civil works which are being carried out on site. )

13.   Finishing Works (Complete CW Activity)

14.   Red – Line/As – Built Drawings preparation (Complete CW Activity)

15.   Acceptance from Customer (The activity is owned by project as a whole)