Local Failure of Cooling and Solar Updraft Towers

In this paper, the ultimate strength of tall R/C hyperbolic shell with bulge imperfection was analysed by use of non-liner Finite Element Method and the effects of the geometric imperfection on the nonlinear behaviour of the tall hyperbolic shell were assessed. Also, the collapse propagation into the entire structure was analyzed considering the local collapse or the local deterioration of R/C hyperbolic shell. The shells were fixed at the base and were free at the top. The self weight and the wind pressure were applied and the load deformation behaviour was investigated. R/C towers with and without ring stiffeners were investigated. Then, the behaviour of the shell was investigated and the effects of geometric imperfections were represented.