NEHRP Clearinghouse
- Title
- Theoretical Study of the Earthquake Response of the Paradise Cooling Tower.
- File
- PB292504.pdf
- Author(s)
- Yang, T. Y.; Gran, C. S.; Bogdanoff, J. L.
- Source
- National Science Foundation, Washington, DC. Applied Science and Research Applications., April 3, 1978, 65 p.
- Abstract
- Since the use of cooling towers is increasing over the use of once-through water cooling systems, and since many of these towers are being built in regions of high seismic risk, their dynamic behavior has received considerable attention. In this study, quadrilateral plate finite elements and beam finite elements, both oriented arbitrarily in 3-dimensional space, are used in the analysis of the dynamic behavior of cooling towers. It is found that such a model will accurately predict natural frequencies and mode shapes. It also provides a realistic modeling of the base support system, important in the prediction of displacements and stresses in the base region. A model of a cooling tower in the TVA's 1200 MW fossil fuel steam generating plant in Paradise, Kentucky is used in the study. The report describes the system, its finite elements, methods of analysis, assumptions, evaluative analysis, and free vibration analysis of the Paradise cooling tower.
- Keywords
- Earthquake resistant structures; Cooling towers; Vibration; Electric power plants; Ground motion; Earthquake engineering; Dynamic response; Finite element analysis; Resonant frequency; Kentucky; Stress analysis; Paradise (Kentucky); Earthquakes