Static Analysis of Tension Cooling Towers.

A static solution is obtained for the problem of a tension cooling tower with a shell made of plates fastened to a prestressed net of tension members suspended on a central shaft. The displacement method in a linear formulation is employed to obtain the solution for arbitrary surface loading and for the effect of temperatures, assuming the net to be an orthotropic shell. The solution is used to develop a computational program for digital computer. The program requires a relatively low computer time and thus could be used for optimization of the structural design.