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Stability behaviour and dynamic response of cooling towers subjected to wind loading

In this study, a linear eigenvalue buckling parametric analysis is presented for various cooling tower shell geometries. The shells are subjected to increasing wind pressures (speeds) to observe the trends in the critical buckling pressures/speeds at which the shell first buckles and the correspondi...

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Main Author: Kucherera, Grant Tarwirei
Other Authors: Zingoni, Alphose
Format: Thesis
Language:English
Published: Department of Civil Engineering 2017
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access_status_str Open Access
author Kucherera, Grant Tarwirei
author2 Zingoni, Alphose
author_browse Kucherera, Grant Tarwirei
Zingoni, Alphose
author_facet Zingoni, Alphose
Kucherera, Grant Tarwirei
author_sort Kucherera, Grant Tarwirei
collection Thesis
description In this study, a linear eigenvalue buckling parametric analysis is presented for various cooling tower shell geometries. The shells are subjected to increasing wind pressures (speeds) to observe the trends in the critical buckling pressures/speeds at which the shell first buckles and the corresponding buckling modes. The cooling tower's geometry is changed in a systematic manner to obtain the relationship between critical wind speeds associated with the first mode of buckling and the cooling tower's geometry. Geometrical parameter ratios of the cooling tower's dimensions are considered in order to cover a wider spectrum of the cooling tower's geometry. The critical wind speed versus height curve is observed to be similar to the Euler buckling curve. There appears to be a certain optimum throat height to total height ratio of about 0.75 for any cooling tower at which the critical wind speed is maximum. The critical wind speed varies linearly with the cooling tower thickness and non-linearly with all diameter ratios. A linear eigenvalue vibration parametric analysis is presented for various cooling tower shell geometries to observe trends in the free vibration response (natural frequencies and mode shapes). The forced response of the cooling tower to various forcing frequencies of wind gusts is analysed using the mode superposition method. The shells are subjected to increasing wind gust periods of the same speed to obtain the trends in the forced vibration response (response frequencies and modes). The cooling tower's geometry is changed in a systematic manner to obtain the free and forced vibration behaviour. The natural frequencies and their corresponding bandwidths for the first ten different modes reduce with increasing height. They are generally invariant with the height to top diameter ratio, but the bandwidth increases with increasing height to top diameter ratio. The response frequencies and their corresponding bandwidths generally decrease with increasing height as well as the height to top diameter ratios. The response frequency generally decreases with decreasing forcing frequency, but not for all the cooling tower geometries. The findings can be used as a basis for further research and establishment of conceptual design guidelines when considering stability, free and forced vibration cooling tower behaviour.
format Thesis
id oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/24305
institution University of Cape Town (South Africa)
language eng
last_indexed 2026-06-10T12:32:39.476Z
license_str Not specified — see source repository
provenance_str_mv Harvested via OAI-PMH from UCTD — University of Cape Town Open Access Repository
publishDate 2017
publishDateRange 2017
publishDateSort 2017
publisher Department of Civil Engineering
publisherStr Department of Civil Engineering
record_format dspace
source_str UCTD — University of Cape Town Open Access Repository
spelling oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/24305 Stability behaviour and dynamic response of cooling towers subjected to wind loading Kucherera, Grant Tarwirei Zingoni, Alphose Civil Engineering In this study, a linear eigenvalue buckling parametric analysis is presented for various cooling tower shell geometries. The shells are subjected to increasing wind pressures (speeds) to observe the trends in the critical buckling pressures/speeds at which the shell first buckles and the corresponding buckling modes. The cooling tower's geometry is changed in a systematic manner to obtain the relationship between critical wind speeds associated with the first mode of buckling and the cooling tower's geometry. Geometrical parameter ratios of the cooling tower's dimensions are considered in order to cover a wider spectrum of the cooling tower's geometry. The critical wind speed versus height curve is observed to be similar to the Euler buckling curve. There appears to be a certain optimum throat height to total height ratio of about 0.75 for any cooling tower at which the critical wind speed is maximum. The critical wind speed varies linearly with the cooling tower thickness and non-linearly with all diameter ratios. A linear eigenvalue vibration parametric analysis is presented for various cooling tower shell geometries to observe trends in the free vibration response (natural frequencies and mode shapes). The forced response of the cooling tower to various forcing frequencies of wind gusts is analysed using the mode superposition method. The shells are subjected to increasing wind gust periods of the same speed to obtain the trends in the forced vibration response (response frequencies and modes). The cooling tower's geometry is changed in a systematic manner to obtain the free and forced vibration behaviour. The natural frequencies and their corresponding bandwidths for the first ten different modes reduce with increasing height. They are generally invariant with the height to top diameter ratio, but the bandwidth increases with increasing height to top diameter ratio. The response frequencies and their corresponding bandwidths generally decrease with increasing height as well as the height to top diameter ratios. The response frequency generally decreases with decreasing forcing frequency, but not for all the cooling tower geometries. The findings can be used as a basis for further research and establishment of conceptual design guidelines when considering stability, free and forced vibration cooling tower behaviour. 2017-05-16T07:55:27Z 2017-05-16T07:55:27Z 2016 Master Thesis Masters MSc (Eng) http://hdl.handle.net/11427/24305 eng application/pdf Department of Civil Engineering Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment University of Cape Town
spellingShingle Civil Engineering
Kucherera, Grant Tarwirei
Stability behaviour and dynamic response of cooling towers subjected to wind loading
thesis_degree_str Master's
title Stability behaviour and dynamic response of cooling towers subjected to wind loading
title_full Stability behaviour and dynamic response of cooling towers subjected to wind loading
title_fullStr Stability behaviour and dynamic response of cooling towers subjected to wind loading
title_full_unstemmed Stability behaviour and dynamic response of cooling towers subjected to wind loading
title_short Stability behaviour and dynamic response of cooling towers subjected to wind loading
title_sort stability behaviour and dynamic response of cooling towers subjected to wind loading
topic Civil Engineering
url http://hdl.handle.net/11427/24305
work_keys_str_mv AT kuchereragranttarwirei stabilitybehaviouranddynamicresponseofcoolingtowerssubjectedtowindloading