The seismic design of an industrial chimney with rocking base

Abstract

An industrial reinforced concrete chimney, of cruciform cross-section and thirty-five metres tall, has been designed and built with the high degree of seismic protection afforded by allowing the base to rock during large earthquakes. As a precaution a pair of purpose-made yielding steel dampers have been installed to assist in the control of the most violent response that might occur. This paper discusses the advantages in the adoption of this revolutionary design and describes the hand dynamic analysis carried out during the design process. Subsequent time-history computer analysis carried out to confirm the design method is reported on.