The rapid expansion of telecommunication infrastructure has increased the need for reliable structural assessments of monopole towers as antennas are added or reconfigured. Traditionally, these assessments assume independent wind loading exposure for each antenna using conservative force coefficients or making use of wind tunnel often leading to overdesign. This study investigates the application of Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) as a more accurate and cost-efficient alternative. Using ANSYS Fluent and CATIA V5, a variety of antenna configurations were modeled and analyzed under steady-state wind conditions. The results demonstrated that bending moments predicted for clustered antenna arrangements were up to 52% lower than those obtained from traditional design standard codes such as TIA-222 and SANS 10225. These reductions are primarily due to aerodynamic shielding effects. The study highlights CFD as a reliable design tool for telecommunication towers, validated against wind tunnel data and supported by mesh independence studies conducted. These findings suggest that CFD offers a more accurate and cost-efficient alternative to traditional conservative assumptions, with the potential to optimize structural design and reduce material usage. It confirms the potential of CFD, using a standard laptop to reduce conservatism in structural design, and time without compromising safety.
