To Study The Effect Of Seismic And Wind Loads On Hyperbolic Cooling Tower Of Varying Dimension And RCC Shell Thickness

Abstract

Natural draught cooling towers are very common in modern day thermal and nuclear power stations. These towers with very small shell thickness are exceptional structures by their shear size and sensitivity to horizontal loads. This paper deals with the Effect of Seismic Load and Wind Loads on Hyperbolic cooling tower of varying dimension and RCC Shell Thickness. For the purpose of comparison an existing cooling tower from one of the power plant is considered. For the other models of cooling towers, the dimensions and thickness of the shell are varied with respect to reference tower. The Boundary conditions considered are; Top end free and Bottom end is fixed. These cooling towers have been analyzed for seismic loads and wind loads using Finite Element Analysis (FEA). The seismic load are carried out for 0.5g, 0.6g and 0.7g in accordance with IS: 1893 (part1)-2002 by modal analysis. Wind loads on these cooling towers have been calculated in the form of pressures by using the design wind pressure coefficients as given in IS: 11504-1985 code along with the design wind pressures at different levels as per IS: 875 (Part 3) - 1987 code. The analysis has been carried out using 8-noded 93 Shell Element. Maximum deflection, maximum principal stress and strains are calculated from the analysis. Maximum Von Mises Stresses and Strains are also calculated