Lifetime-Oriented Analysis and Design of Large-Scale Cooling Towers

Abstract

This chapter discusses the main aspects of the design and construction of cooling towers in Germany in the past decade. These towers definitely belong to the largest and thinnest concrete buildings worldwide at present. Because of the combined action of wind, thermal, and hygric effects, special care has to be taken on fatigue, cracking, and corrosion to insure an adequate level of safety and durability. Such a design strategy has been employed for the highest cooling tower worldwide at the power plant at Niederaussem/Germany, with an overall height of 200 m and thicknesses of 22 to 24 cm, under special consideration of the realistic non-axisymmetric distribution of soil characteristics and wind action due to interference effects, as they have been examined by wind-tunnel tests; the optimization of the shell shape to improve the structural and dynamic behavior; the injection of the cleaned flue-gas into the cooling tower; the use of high-performance concrete to improve the shell against acid attack by the cleaned flue-gas. The chapter reveals some results of an actual research project on this problem.