If you choose a square tower you choose...

• An increase in materials.
• An increase in maintenance costs.
• An increase in assembly labor.
• An increase in foundations.
• An increase in weight.
• An increase in cost.

... an approximate increase of 33.33%!

Air flow dynamics

When identical forces are applied to the square and triangular objects, the square object will deform while the triangular object remains rigid (Fig 5).

Following are some points to consider when specifying towers both square angle and triangular pipe/solid. As you will see, the square angle design has no advantage whatsoever over the triangular design, and the triangular design has many advantages over the square design. This is evidenced by the fact that the majority of the world's major tower/mast manufacturers operate in an environment where the finest quality raw materials are available, and are not limited to a certain steel supply. These modern manufacturers provide triangular towers as their primary product.

1. Square tower design is old fashioned and antiquated. Some designs date back to the 1800s and were based on availability of material, existing design capabilities and ease of manufacture. Almost any steel fabricator can design and manufacture square angle towers or masts. Square angle towers are specified in many cases because of the long standing designs that have not been updated over the years. These structures have been the accepted standard, since many departments and users do not have the in-house structural engineering capacity to evaluate modern designs, and take the time to update their requirements.