Stochastic Structural Analysis with Reference to Natural Draft Cooling Tower Shells

In general, the use of deterministic methods is common engineering practice for the analysis of structures. As a common rule, it is assumed that main parameters that describe a structure can be determined with a high level of accuracy. In reality, all structural parameters show variability.

These inaccuracies during the design of structures can be considered by means of stochastical analysis of the structure.

In this paper the use of stochastic methods will be presented using the example of a natural draft cooling tower shell. The shell showed degredation in form of vertical cracks near the lintel and in its lower regions. The origin of these cracks could not be found by use of deterministic analysis. For the stochastic analysis, a normal distribution of the tensile strength of concrete has been used in a geometrical and physical nonlinear analysis of the shell.