The slenderness effect on wind response of industrial reinforced concrete chimneys

There are several parameters affecting the response of industrial reinforced concrete (RC) chimneys, i.e., the severity of wind and earthquake loads acting to the structure, structural properties such as height and cross section of the chimney, the slenderness property of the structure etc. One of the most important parameter that should be considered while understanding the wind response of industrial RC chimneys is slenderness property. Although there is no certain definition for slenderness effect on these structures, some standards like ASCE-7 define slenderness from different aspects of the structural properties. In the first part of this study, general information about the definition of slenderness in the well-known standards and ten selected industrial RC chimneys are given. In the second part of the study, brief information about wind load standards that are used for calculating wind loads namely ACI 307/98, CICIND 2001, DIN 1056, TS 498 and Eurocode 1 is given. In the third part of the study, calculated wind loads for selected chimneys are represented. In the fourth part of this study, the internal forces obtained from load combinations that are applied to chimneys and some graphs presenting the effect of slenderness on chimneys are given. In the last part of the study, a conclusion and discussion part is taking place.