Effect of Soil Structure Interaction on Natural Draft Cooling Towers Under Lateral Loadings

Abstract

According to the latest census, which was conducted in 2020 21, India is the third-largest newlinepower generator in the world. It appears that 63% of the power was provided by thermal newlinepower plants. Seven thermal power plants have been built in Karnataka, and their perperson newlineoutput is 7680 MW. We may observe the cooling towers at many thermal power newlineplants. Therefore, maintaining this huge structure is an effort to keep the cooling tower newlinefrom an earthquake. A mild earthquake measuring 2.6 on the Richter scale struck newlineArakalgudu, K R Nagara, an area of Karnataka, as well as other earthquakes in various newlinelocations in India. newlineBut the atmospheric and environmental changes needed for every structure in India should newlineundergo seismic analysis to design a stack-like structure of Natural draft cooling towers. newlineThese structures can be exposed to various loading conditions directly such as wind, newlineearthquake, temperature change, and support settlements. However, the earthquake load newlinecan be considered as the main load for the cooling towers located in high seismic zones. newlineTherefore, it is essential to recognize the seismic behavior of huge cooling towers under newlinesevere earthquake effects in the design process. newlineThe design earthquake loads applied to the components of a cooling tower can be newlinedetermined by the response spectrum analysis. Cooling towers should be modelled in an newlineappropriate detail as a system including all structural components such as the shell wall, newlinethe supporting columns, the annular raft, and the soil foundation for a robust seismic design. newlineHowever, in most of the previous studies, some of these components are ignored. newlineFor instance, several researchers assumed in their studies that cooling towers are entirely newlineor partially constrained at the base of the shell wall or column while ignoring the impact of newlinethe soil medium. Most of the studies including soil-structure interaction (SSI) have used newlinethe elastic continuum model to focus on the responses of cooling towers subjected to static newline