Structure Strength and Stability Analyses of an Ultra-Large Indirect Air-Cooled Tower Based on Finite Elements

Abstract

Combined with an engineering project, this paper uses large-scale finite element software ANSYS to make the structure analysis of indirect air-cooled tower, considering the effect of foundation soil. The distribution characteristics of air-cooled tower’s displacement, stress and internal force is focused on respectively under the gravity, temperature load and wind load. The local stability of cylinder wall is calculated combined with the design codes; and the tower’s overall stability is analyzed by using the eigenvalue bucking analysis method. The analytical results can provide some reference for the tower’s structure.