A proper tower analysis involves the construction of a mathematical model of the tower, its appurtenances, restraints offered by the foundations, and environmental loading that behaves, mathematically, as would the tower behave physically under the most probable adverse physical conditions that can be reasonably expected to prevail, or such other situations that it may be of interest to investigate.
Of course, a tower analysis is of no use to anyone untill it is clearly, unabiguosly communicated through a concise report that explains what was done, why it was done, what were the restrictions imposed, what were the unknowns and the assumptions used to overcome these unknowns, what were the results, and how should the client and the public deal with these results.
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Do analyses have to cost much ?
No, they don't have to cost much, but that also depends on what one considers much. A low cost analysis that involved little more than guesswork will have cost too much (with some costs to be realized in the future).
Obviously, the cost should be comensurate with the work and care required to perform the analysis properly. Different situations will require different approaches and will take different resources and time. The best analysts will proportion their effort and time to match the task; a poor analyst will either always take too much time or always take too little time, because to him it is a process to achieve a personal economic goal rather than an undertaking to inform and support the client's needs with respect to the tower.
