Structural behaviour evaluation of natural draught cooling towers under the consideration of shell-geometric parameters

Abstract

In the design procedure of the cooling tower the form-finding of the shell is the most important process, because the shape of the shell determines the sensitivity of dynamic behavior of the whole tower against wind excitation. The purpose of the study is the investigation of the influences of the geometric parameters of the cooling tower shell on the structural behavior. The geometric parameters were analyzed in detail. As a result, a hyperbolic rotational shell with the small radius overall will yield the shell geometry with a higher first natural frequency and thus a wind-insensitive structure. Linearly and nonlinearly numerical simulations demonstrate influence of the shell-geometric parameters on structural behaviours. The results of this study may be informative for the form-finding of the cooling tower shell. © (2013) Trans Tech Publications, Switzerland.