• Wind and Structures
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• v.27 no.1
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• pp.11-27
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• 2018

The straight-cone steel cooling tower is a novel type of structure, which has a distinct aerodynamic distribution on the internal surface of the tower cylinder compared with conventional hyperbolic concrete cooling towers. Especially in the extreme weather conditions of strong wind and heavy rain, heavy rain also has a direct impact on aerodynamic force on the internal surface and changes the turbulence effect of pulsating wind, but existing studies mainly focus on the impact effect brought by wind-driven rain to structure surface. In addition, for the indirect air cooled cooling tower, different additional ventilation rate of shutters produces a considerable interference to air movement inside the tower and also to the action mechanism of loads. To solve the problem, a straight-cone steel cooling towerstanding 189 m high and currently being constructed is taken as the research object in this study. The algorithm for two-way coupling between wind and rain is adopted. Simulation of wind field and raindrops is performed with continuous phase and discrete phase models, respectively, under the general principles of computational fluid dynamics (CFD). Firstly, the rule of influence of 9 combinations of wind sped and rainfall intensity on flow field mechanism, the volume of wind-driven rain, additional action force of raindrops and equivalent internal pressure coefficient of the tower cylinder is analyzed. On this basis, the internal pressures of the cooling tower under the most unfavorable working condition are compared between four ventilation rates of shutters (0%, 15%, 30% and 100%). The results show that the 3D effect of equivalent internal pressure coefficient is the most significant when considering two-way coupling between wind and rain. Additional load imposed by raindrops on the internal surface of the tower accounts for an extremely small proportion of total wind load, the maximum being only 0.245%. This occurs under the combination of 20 m/s wind velocity and 200 mm/h rainfall intensity. Ventilation rate of shutters not only changes the air movement inside the tower, but also affects the accumulated amount and distribution of raindrops on the internal surface.

• Journal of the Earthquake Engineering Society of Korea
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• v.22 no.3
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• pp.139-147
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• 2018

In the present study, effective hydrodynamic pressure modeling methods for three-dimensional earthquake safety analysis of a dam intake tower structure are investigated. Time history analysis results using the Westergaard added mass and Chopra added mass methods are compared with the one by the CASI (Coupled Acoustic Structural Interaction) method, which is accepted as giving almost exact solutions, to evaluate the difference in displacement response, stress and dynamic eccentricity. The 3D time history analysis of a realistic intake tower, which has the standard geometry widely used in Korea, shows that the Chopra added mass method gives similar results in displacement and stress and less conservative results in dynamic eccentricity to CASI ones, while the Westergaard added mass yields much more conservative results in all measures. This study suggests to use the CASI method directly for three-dimensional earthquake safety analysis of a dam intake tower, if computationally possible.

• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.10 no.4_5
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• pp.353-373
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• 2012

The instrumented Canton Tower is a 610 m high-rise structure, which has been considered as a benchmark problem for structural health monitoring (SHM) research. In this paper, an improved automatic modal identification method is presented based on a natural excitation technique in conjunction with the eigensystem realization algorithm (NExT/ERA). In the proposed modal identification method, damping ratio, consistent mode indicator from observability matrices (CMI_O) and modal amplitude coherence (MAC) are used as criteria to distinguish the physically true modes from spurious modes. Enhanced frequency domain decomposition (EFDD), the data-driven stochastic subspace identification method (SSI-DATA) and the proposed method are respectively applied to extract the modal parameters of the Canton Tower under different environmental conditions. Results of modal parameter identification based on output-only measurements are presented and discussed. User-selected parameters used in those methods are suggested and discussed. Furthermore, the effect of environmental conditions on the dynamic characteristics of Canton tower is investigated.

• Wind and Structures
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• v.24 no.4
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• pp.385-403
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• 2017

In recent years, the wind energy has played an increasingly important role in national energy sector of many countries. To harvest more electric power, the wind turbine (WT) tower structure becomes physically larger, which may cause more risks during long-term operation. Associated with the great development of WT projects, the number of accidents related to large-scaled WT has also been increased. Therefore, a structural health monitoring (SHM) system for WT structures is needed to ensure their safety and serviceability during operational time. The objective of this study is to develop a hybrid damage detection method for WT tower structures by measuring vibration and impedance responses. To achieve the objective, the following approaches are implemented. Firstly, a hybrid damage detection scheme which combines vibration-based and impedance-based methods is proposed as a sequential process in three stages. Secondly, a series of vibration and impedance tests are conducted on a lab-scaled model of the WT structure in which a set of bolt-loosening cases is simulated for the segmental joints. Finally, the feasibility of the proposed hybrid damage detection method is experimentally evaluated via its performance during the damage detection process in the tested model.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.17 no.6
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• pp.803-824
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• 2014

The dynamic characterization is important in making accurate predictions of the seismic response of the hybrid structures dominated by different damping mechanisms. Different damping characteristics arise from the construction of the tower with different materials: steel for the upper part; reinforced concrete for the lower main part and interaction with supporting soil. The process of modeling damping matrices and experimental verification is challenging because damping cannot be determined via static tests as can mass and stiffness. The assumption of classical damping is not appropriate if the system to be analyzed consists of two or more parts with significantly different levels of damping, such as steel/concrete mixed structure - supporting soil coupled system. The dynamic response of structures is critically determined by the damping mechanisms, and its value is very important for the design and analysis of vibrating structures. An analytical approach capable of evaluating the equivalent modal damping ratio from structural components is desirable for improving seismic design. Two approaches are considered to define and investigate dynamic characteristics of hybrid tower of cable-stayed bridges: The first approach makes use of a simplified approximation of two lumped masses to investigate the structure irregularity effects including damping of different material, mass ratio, frequency ratio on dynamic characteristics and modal damping; the second approach employs a detailed numerical step-by step integration procedure in which the damping matrices of the upper and the lower substructures are modeled with the Rayleigh damping formulation.

• Computers and Concrete
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• v.12 no.2
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• pp.211-228
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• 2013

The structure analyzed in this paper has particular building style and special structural system. It is a rigid-connected twin-tower skyscraper with asymmetrical distribution of stiffness and masses in two towers. Because of the different stiffness between the north and the south towers, the torsion seismic vibration is significant. In this paper, in order to study the seismic response of the structure under both frequent low-intensity earthquakes as well as rare earthquakes at the levels of intensity 7, the analysis model is built and analyzed with NosaCAD. NosaCAD is an nonlinear structure analysis software based on second-development of AutoCAD with ObjectARX. It has convenient modeling function, high computational efficiency and diversity post-processing functions. The deformations, forces and damages of the structure are investigated based on the analysis. According to the analysis, there is no damage on the structure under frequent earthquakes, and the structure has sufficient capacity and ductility to resist rare earthquakes. Therefore the structure can reach the goal of no damage under frequent earthquakes and no collapse under rare earthquakes. The deformation of the structure is below the limit in Chinese code. The time sequence and distribution of damages on tubes are reasonable, which can dissipate some dynamic energy. At last, according to forces, load-carrying capacity and damage of elements, there are some suggestions on increasing the reinforcement in the core tube at base and in stiffened stories.

• International Journal of High-Rise Buildings
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• v.1 no.3
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• pp.221-228
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• 2012

Shanghai Tower is a super high-rise building of 632 m height with 'mega frame-core- outrigger truss' structure system. Due to the complexity and irregularity of structure, shaking table test was carried out to investigate its seismic performance. A 1/40 scaled test model was designed, built and tested on shaking table under earthquake of small, moderate and large levels. The experimental results showed that the structure can meet the requirements of Chinese codes and reach scheduled performance objectives. Elastic and plastic time-history analysis on the structure were carried out and the results were compared to experimental results. Based on the research results some suggestions were proposed to contribute favorable effect on the seismic capacity of the structure.

• Transactions of the Korean Society for Noise and Vibration Engineering
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• v.17 no.7 s.124
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• pp.649-661
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• 2007

Friction-type reinforcing members(FRM) to enhance the resistance to wind loads of a transmission tower through both stiffness strengthening and damping increase are energy dissipation devices that utilize bending deflection of a tower leg. In this paper, the hysteretic behavior of the transmission tower structure with FRMs was experimentally investigated through cyclic loading tests on a half scale substructure model. Firstly, the variation of friction forces and durability of the FRM depending on the type of friction-inducing materials used in the FRM were examined by performing the cyclic loading tests on the FRM. Secondly, cyclic loading tests of a half-scale two-dimensional substructure model of a transmission tower with FRMs were conducted. Test results show that the FRM, of which desired maximum friction force is easily regulated by adjusting the amplitude of the torque applied to the bolts, have stable hysteretic behaviors and it is found that there exists the optimum torque depending on a design load by investigating the amount of energy dissipation of the FRMs according to the increase of torque.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society for Noise and Vibration Engineering Conference
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• 2007.05a
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• pp.568-577
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• 2007

Friction-type reinforcing members (FRM) to enhance the resistance to wind loads of a transmission tower through both stiffness strengthening and damping increase are energy dissipation devices that utilize bending deflection of a tower leg. In this paper, the hysteretic behavior of the transmission tower structure with FRMs was experimentally investigated through cyclic loading tests on a half scale substructure model. Firstly, the variation of friction forces and durability of the FRM depending on the type of Friction-inducing materials used in the FRM were examined by performing the cyclic loading tests on the FRM. Secondly, Cyclic loading tests of a half-scale two-dimensional substructure model of a transmission tower with FRMs were conducted. Test results show that the FRM, of which desired maximum friction force is easily regulated by adjusting the amplitude of the torque applied to the bolts, have stable hysteretic behaviors and it is found that there exists the optimum torque depending on a design load by investigating the amount of energy dissipation of the FRMs according to the increase of torque.

• Journal of Wind Energy
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• v.9 no.4
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• pp.57-64
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• 2018

To maximize power generation and reduce the construction cost of a commercial utility-grade wind turbine, the size of the wind turbine should be large. The initial design of the 12 MW University of Ulsan(UOU) Floating Offshore Wind Turbine(FOWT) was carried out based on the 5 MW National Renewable Energy Laboratory(NREL) offshore wind turbine model. The existing 5 MW NREL offshore wind turbines have been expanded to 12 MW UOU FOWT using the geometric law of similarity and then redesigned for each factor. The resonance of the tower is the most important dynamic responses of a wind turbine, and it should be designed by avoiding resonance due to cyclic load during turbine operations. The natural frequency of the tower needs to avoid being within the frequency range corresponding to the rotational speed of the blades, 1P, and the blade passing frequency, 3P. To avoid resonance, vibration can be reduced by modifying the stiffness or mass. The direct expansion of the 5 MW wind turbine support structure caused a resonance problem with the tower of the 12 MW FOWT and the tower length and diameter was adjusted to avoid a match of the first natural frequency and 3P excitation of the tower.