@Article{cmes.2020.09046,
AUTHOR = {Tiancan Huang, Hao Zhou, Hamid Beiraghi},
TITLE = {Collapse Simulation and Response Assessment of a Large Cooling Tower Subjected to Strong Earthquake Ground Motions},
JOURNAL = {Computer Modeling in Engineering \& Sciences},
VOLUME = {123},
YEAR = {2020},
NUMBER = {2},
PAGES = {691--715},
URL = {http://www.techscience.com/CMES/v123n2/38696},
ISSN = {1526-1506},
ABSTRACT = {Large cooling towers in thermal power plants and nuclear power plants are likely
to suffer from strong earthquakes during service periods. The resulting destructions of the
cooling towers would endanger the power plants and threaten the security of the related
areas. It is important to use effective means to evaluate the safety status of the cooling
towers and guide further precautions as well as retrofitting efforts. This paper is therefore
focused on an elaborate numerical investigation to the earthquake-induced collapses of a
large cooling tower structure. A complete numerical work for simulation of material
failure, component fracture, structural buckling and system collapse is presented by
integrating the stochastic damage constitutive model of concrete, refined structural element
models, and some other key techniques. Numerical results indicate that the damage
behavior and collapse mode of the cooling tower are affected notably by the randomness
specification of ground motions. The collapse mechanisms of the cooling tower are studied
from the energy absorption and dissipation points of view. An effective energy-based
criterion is introduced to identify the collapse of the cooling tower under ground motion
excitations. While distinct collapse modes are observed, the collapse criterion can predict
well the damage and failure of the cooling tower. The proposed methodology is vital to
better understanding the disastrous mechanisms and potential failure paths in optimal
design of the cooling towers to ensure safety.},
DOI = {10.32604/cmes.2020.09046}
}