Tutorial Example – A steel chimney stack 50m high

Design wind loads are required for a steel chimney stack of circular cross section. The
relevant information is as follows :

• Location : Region A4
• Terrain : Open terrain for all directions
• Topography : ground slope less than 1 in 20 for greater than 5 kilometres
in all directions.
• There are no surrounding structures of comparable height.
• Dimensions : height : 50 metres
Constant diameter of 1 metre from 10 metres to 50 metres height.
Flared below 10 metres to a diameter of 2.4 metres at the base.
• Exterior surface is painted.
• Structure is welded with base plate bolted to foundation.
• Mass per unit height over top third of chimney: 200 Kg/m.
• Sway frequencies, na = nc = 0.6 Hertz.

1.0 m

50 m

10 m

2.4 m
Regional wind speed

This type of structure is not covered in the Building Code of Australia; however, some
guidance can be obtained from AS1170.0:2002 (Appendix F). The structure can be
treated as a ‘normal’ structure – treat as Level 2. Hence take average recurrence interval,
R, for loading and overall structural response equal to 500 years.

From Table 3.1 in AS/NZS1170.2, V500 = 45 m/s (Region A)

Wind direction multiplier

Wind direction multipliers for Region A4 are given in Table 3.2. Values range from 0.85
(NE) to 0.95 (S, SW, W).

Terrain-height multiplier

Mz,cat is adjusted according to the height of each section.

For z=h=50 m, For Terrain Category 2, Mz,cat = M50,cat2 = 1.18 (Table 4.1(A))

Shielding

There are no other structures of greater height in any direction. Take Ms, equal to 1.0 for
all directions.

Topography

Topographic Multiplier, Mt = Mh = 1.0

Site wind speed

Site wind speed for z= h =50 m for North direction,

Vsit,N = 45(0.90)(1.18)(1.0)(1.0) = 47.8 m/s (Equation 2.2)

For all wind directions, site wind speeds at z=50 m are calculated in the following table.

Direction V500 Md Mz,cat Ms Mt Vsit,β (m/s)

(m/s)
N 45 0.90 1.18 1.0 1.0 47.8
NE 45 0.85 1.18 1.0 1.0 45.1
E 45 0.90 1.18 1.0 1.0 47.8
SE 45 0.90 1.18 1.0 1.0 47.8
S 45 0.95 1.18 1.0 1.0 50.4
SW 45 0.95 1.18 1.0 1.0 50.4
W 45 0.95 1.18 1.0 1.0 50.4
NW 45 0.90 1.18 1.0 1.0 47.8
Design wind speeds

The largest value Vdes,θ at z equal to 50 metres can be obtained by inspection from Vsit,β
in the above table,:

Vdes,θ = 50.4 m/s

This is for the south, south-west and west wind directions

Aerodynamic shape factor

Drag force coefficients for circular cylindrical shapes are obtained from Table E3.

For a painted surface, average height of surface roughness, hr = 0.01 mm

Hence (hr/d) = (0.00001/1.0) = 0.00001 for top 40 metres of the chimney

to (0.00001/2.4) = 0.0000042 at base
This is less than 0.00002.

Hence Cd = 0.5

Dynamic response factor

Cdyn to be obtained from Section 6.2.2 for along-wind response

Calculation of along-wind Cdyn

Cdyn will be calculated for s = 0, and 25 m on the chimney.

Turbulence intensity at z = h = 50 m, Ih = 0.151 (Table 6.1)

1
Background factor, Bs = (Equation 6.2(2))
2
0.26( h − s ) 2 + 0.46bsh
1+
Lh

0.25 0.25
h  50 
Lh = 85  = 85  = 127m
 10   10 

For bsh = 1.14 m, s = 0 (for base bending moment),

 1
Bs = = 0.833
1+
[0.26(50 − 0) + 0.46(1.14) 2
2
]
127

Hs = 1.0

g R = ( 2 log e (600na ) = ( 2 log e (600(0.60)) = 3.43

1
Size reduction factor, S =
 3.5na h(1 + g v I h )   4na b0 h (1 + g v I h ) 
1 +  1 + 
 Vdes ,θ  Vdes ,θ 
For b0h = 1.14 m,

1 1
S= = = 0.217
 3.5(0.6)(50)(1 + (3.7)(0.151))   4(0.6)(1.14)(1 + (3.7)(0.151))  [4.247][1.085]
1 + 50.4  1 + 50.4 

na Lh (1 + g v I h ) (0.6)(127)[1 + (3.7)(0.151)]
Reduced frequency, N = = = 2.356
Vdes ,θ 50.4

πN
Et = (Equation 6.2(4))
(1 + 70.8N )
2 5/6

π ( 2.356)
= = 0.0509
(1 + 70.8(2.356) ) 2 5/6

ζ (ratio of structural damping to critical) : take as 0.02 (Table 6.2)

 2 H s g R SEt 
2
1 + 2Ih  g v Bs + 
 ς 
Cdyn = (Equation 6.2(1))
(1 + 2 g v I h )
For s = 0 m,

 (1.0)(3.43) 2 (0.217)(0.0509) 
1 + 2(0.151) (3.7) 2 (0.833) + 
 0.02 
Cdyn =
(1 + 2(3.7)(0.151) )
1 + 0.302 [11.404 + 6.497]
= = 1.076
2.117

For bsh = 1.0 m, s = 25 m (for bending moment at s = 25m),

1
Bs = = 0.909
1+
[
0.26(50 − 25) 2 + 0.46(1.0) 2 ]
127
2 2
s  25 
H s = 1 +   = 1 +   = 1.25
h  50 
 (1.25)(3.43) 2 (0.217)(0.0509) 
1 + 2(0.151) (3.7) (0.909) +
2

 0.02 
Cdyn =
(1 + 2(3.7)(0.151) )
1 + 0.302 [12.444 + 8.122]
= = 1.119
2.117

Calculation of along-wind bending moment at s = 0

Summaries of the calculations are given in the following table.

Height of b Cd Mz,cat 2 qz.Cfig qz.Cfig.Cdyn.A moment

section (m) (kPa) (kN) contribution
(m) (kN.m)
47.5 1.0 0.5 1.176 0.758 4.08 193.7
42.5 1.0 0.5 1.168 0.748 4.02 171.0
37.5 1.0 0.5 1.150 0.725 3.90 146.3
32.5 1.0 0.5 1.130 0.700 3.77 122.4
27.5 1.0 0.5 1.110 0.676 3.63 99.9
22.5 1.0 0.5 1.090 0.651 3.50 78.8
17.5 1.0 0.5 1.065 0.622 3.34 58.5
12.5 1.0 0.5 1.025 0.576 3.10 38.7
7.5 1.35 0.5 0.955 0.500 3.63 27.2
2.5 2.05 0.5 0.910 0.454 5.01 12.5
 Note - qz denotes : 0.6 × Vdes,θ2

Total along-wind base bending moment obtained by summing contributions from last
column
= 949 kN.m

Calculation of along-wind bending moment at s = 25m:

Height of b Cde Mz,cat 2 qz.Cfig qz.Cfig.Cdyn.A moment

section (m) (kPa) (kN) contribution
(m) (kN.m)
47.5 1.0 0.5 1.176 0.758 4.24 95.5
42.5 1.0 0.5 1.168 0.748 4.19 73.2
37.5 1.0 0.5 1.150 0.725 4.06 50.7
32.5 1.0 0.5 1.130 0.700 3.92 29.4
27.5 1.0 0.5 1.110 0.676 3.78 9.5

Note : in this case, Cdyn = 1.119

Total bending moment at s = 25m obtained by summing contributions from last column
= 258 kN.m

Calculation of cross-wind response

An approximate indication of the maximum cross-wind dynamic response due to vortex

shedding can be obtained by applying Section 6.3.3.1.

Average mass per unit height over the top third of the structure, mt = 200 Kg/m
Average diameter over top third, bt = 1.0 m

4πmtζ 4π × 200 × 0.02

Scruton Number, Sc = = = 41.89
ρ air b 2 1.20 × 1.02

Kbt 0.50 × 1.0

ymax = = = 0.012m
Sc 41.89

This occurs at an mean wind speed of about 5.nc.bt = 5×0.6×1.0= 3.0 m/s

The maximum deflection of 12 mm is very small and will produce negligible stresses in
comparison to those produced by the along-wind response. Therefore no remedial action
is necessary.