Title: Cracking Load for a Wind-Loaded Reinforced Concrete Cooling Tower

Author(s): Kazuya Hayashi and Phillip L. Gould

Publication: Journal Proceedings

Volume: 80

Issue: 4

Appears on pages(s): 318-325

Keywords: cooling towers: cracking (fracturing;) finite element method; hyperbolic parabolic shells; loads (forces); reinforced concrete; shells (structural forms); static loads; stresses; structural analysis; tensile strength; wind pressure.

DOI: 10.14359/12140

Date: 7/1/1983

Abstract:
Since rhe collapse of several large cooling towers in Ferrybridge,England, a major concern of designers of such shells has been to insure adequate safety under wind load. Prior IO attaining the classical buckling stale, a failure of a reinforced concrete cooling lower under wind load may be initiated by rapid propagation of cracks in tensile zones. In this sense, estimating the cracking load is very important for the design of wind-loaded cooling lowers. This paper shows that Ihe cracking load for a wind-loaded reinforced concrete cooling tower may be obtained by a linear elastic finite element analysis which provides a lower bound lo the collapse load of such shells as calculated by more sophisticated methods.