Dynamic Wind Stresses in Hyperbolic Cooling Towers

The paper outlines a general procedure to estimate the wind dynamic stresses in hyperbolic cooling towers on the basis of a statistical dynamic approach. Using wind tunnel measurements of pressure fluctuations and assuming that resonance is negligible, predicted wind stresses agreed with measured stresses on an aeroelastic model. It is shown that wind coupling responses reside essentially in the first, second, and third circumferential harmonic modes and that (138 m) 451 feet between modes is important. The procedure is applied to (138-m) 451-ft tower, fixed or on columns. Results show that static and dynamic stresses are of the same order of magnitude.