Wind & Seismic Design of a Steel Preheater Tower - Adapting Ductility Capacity to Demand

Preheater towers in cement plants are tall, multi-storey buildings housing heavy equipment. Their lateral load design for wind and seismic loads is an important cost-driving aspect. A case study of a mainly steel preheater tower located in the Philippines, a region with high hurricane and earthquake hazard, is used to assess how wind and seismic design affect the structural steel weight. In particular, the impact on steel weight is quantified for low and high-ductility seismic designs. Finally, performance-based design procedures are used to evaluate the seismic performance of these designs. It is shown that, for the given load conditions, high ductility seismic design leads to a significant increase in steel weight while offering no superior performance for the design and maximum credible earthquake level. Essentially elastic, low-ductility, seismic design is shown to be most economic and simple from design, fabrication, and erection perspective.

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