Abstract:

Taking a practical project as an example, this paper puts forward a method for calculating the most critical across-wind loads on single tube RC chimney due to vortex shedding as per GB/50051, and briefly discusses the possible approaches to reduce the across-wind loads due to vortex shedding. The calculations indicate that the chimney may be subject to significant across-wind loads due to vortex shedding while the wind speed is far less than that corresponding to the reference wind pressure. Therefore, considering solely the reference wind pressure in wind load calculation and structural design is not safe. It is necessary to check all possible wind speeds to find the most critical wind load effects. To reduce the wind loads due to vortex shedding, the dynamic characteristics of the chimney can be adjusted by changing the chimney’s size and wall thickness.

Key words: single tube RC chimney, across-wind loads due to vortex shedding, reference wind pressure, critical wind speed, lock-in range