NONLINEAR BUCKLING ANALYSIS OF HYPERBOLIC COOLING TOWER SHELL WITH RING-STIFFENERS

This paper is concerned with a numerical solution of hyperbolic cooling tower shell,a class of full nonlinear problems in solid mechanics of considerable interest in engineering applications.In this analysis,the post-buckling analysis of cooling tower shell with discrete fixed support and under the action of wind loads and dead load is studied.The influences of ring-stiffener on instability load are also discussed.In addition,a new solution procedure for nonlinear problems which is the combination of load increment iteration with modified R-C are-length method is suggested.Finally,some conclusions having important significance for practice engineering are given.