Non-linear behaviour of RC cooling towers and its effects on the structural design

摘要

The structural design of cooling towers can be distinguished between ‘initial-design' and ‘checking-design'. For both design tasks non-linear analyses including geometrical and physical non- linearities can be used for modelling the structure. In comparison with the linear solution non-linear modelling results in a redistri- bution of the internal forces and realistic stiffnesses for tempera- ture loadings. Therefore, all requirements of the ultimate limit states and limit states of serviceability can be fulfilled in a better way than by using linear structural models. A design with a more realistic level of reliability and safety can be obtained which will be shown by two examples.