A description of direct simulation of crosswind loads caused by critical vortex excitation and the response of the structure to these loads are presented in this paper. Tower-like structures of circular cross-sections are considered. A proposed mathematical model of vortex excitation has been numerically implemented and a selfserving computer program was created for the purpose. This software, cooperating with the FEM system, allows for a simulation of a crosswind load and lateral response in real time, meaning that at each time step of the calculations the load is generated using information regarding displacements seen beforehand. A detailed description of the mathematical model is neglected in this paper, which is focused on numerical simulations. WAWS and AR methods are used in simulations.

The beam elements, which are widely used in the absolute nodal coordinate formulation (ANCF) can be treated as isoparametric elements, and by analogy to the classical finite element analysis (FEA) are integrated with standard, spatial Gauss-Legendre quadratures. For this reason, the shape of the ANCF beam cross section is restricted only to the shape of rectangle. In this paper, a distinct method of integration of ANCF elements based on continuum mechanics approach is presented. This method allows for efficient analysis of the ANCF beam elements with circular cross section. The integration of element vectors and matrices is performed by separation of the quadrature into the part that integrate along beam axis and the part that integrate in the beam cross section. Then, an alternative quadrature is used to integrate in the circular shape of the cross section. Since the number of integration points in the alternative quadrature corresponds to the number of points in the standard Gaussian quadrature the change in the shape of the cross section does not affects negatively the element efficiency. The presented method was verified using selected numerical tests. They show good relatively agreement with the reference results. Apart from the analysis of the beams with the circular cross section, a possibility of further modifications in the methods of the element integration is also discussed. Due to the fact that locking influence on the convergence of the element is also observed, the methods of locking elimination in the proposed elements are also considered in the paper.