The present investigation discusses how buckling restrained members implemented at the feet of cooling towers effectively reduce the seismic responses. If the members are designed to yield under earthquake ground motions of relatively low intensity, no damages to the upper portion of cooling towers may be expected, and the cooling towers may keep their function even in strong earthquakes. Accordingly the design forces of the cooling towers against earthquakes will be lowered on account of the buckling restrained members, leading to a relatively low construction cost with a high structural reliability. A cooling tower, assumed as an example of about 170 m height on a circular ring footing, is analyzed under high earthquake motions of more than 400 cm/sec~2 peak ground acceleration, and the responses are shown to be reduced smaller than those without such structural devices. And the upper part above the feet is shown to be under relatively low stress intensity.
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