Nonlinear dynamic analysis of cooling towers under stochastic wind loading

A numerical model for simulating the nonlinear dynamic response of natural draught cooling towers to wind loading is introduced. Geometrical and physical nonlinearities are considered in the F.E. modeling of the doubly-curved thin shell structure. An original simulation procedure of the artificial wind loading is used, generating directly the multi-correlated field of the (stochastic) time series of the external pressures. The effective correlation structure of the fluctuating pressure is imposed from the experimental data obtained by wind tunnel tests. Some preliminary analyses, carried out for checking the performance and reliability of the model, are finally reported.