TITLE THESIS:

Structural Design of a Derrick Supported Chimney for ENI VERSALIS :

OptimizationofstructuralDynamicbehaviorusingaTunedMassDamper.

AUTHOR:Ing.FilippoConti
TUTORS:Prof.Ing.PietroCrespi,Ing.DiegoBruciafreddo
INTERNSHIP:Thermoengineerings.r.l.
MASTER:Mastera.a2014/15

The subject of this work is the structural design, according to the Eurocode and the Italian national
RegulamentationNTC08,ofsteelchimneyDerrickSupportedwhichwillbebuiltinsideofthepetrolchemical
facilityofENIVersalisinFerraraCity.Thechimneyis90mtallfromthegroundandithasacircularcross
sectionofdifferentdiameteralongtheheight.Inordertocontrolthestabilityofthechimneyagainstthelateral
displacementaDerrickstructure65mtallisused.Inthiswayitisrequiredthatthepartofthechimneyabove
the end of the derrick structure works well itself as self supported. While the proposed configuration is an
optimum to reduce the total cost of the building, since the whole structure can be looked as a continuous
taperedsectionfromthebottomtothetop,itmakesthestructureveryslender.Thisfact,togetherwithaproper
low structural damping ratio of steel, makes the structure sensitive to the dynamic effect due to wind and
seismicload.
Inordertomitigateandcontroltheeffectofthedynamicaction,aTMDtunedonthe1stnaturalfrequencyof
the structure were designed and installed. In this way it was possible to increase enough the equivalent
structuraldampingofthestructuretolowertheactionsandtoobtainanoptimumasregardthetotalcostofthe
structure. A Tuned Mass Damper is a device composed by mass, spring and dashpot that is installed on a
structure with the goal to control the dynamic motion. The natural frequency of the TMD is tuned to be the
sameofaselectednaturalfrequencyoftheprimarystructureinawaythatwhenresonanceconditionoccursthe
device vibrates in opposite phase respect to the motion of the primary structure and dissipates energy by its
inertiaforces.InadditiontotheTMD,thedesignofthechimneyinvolvedmanyotherdifferenttopicssuchthe
calculationandthecheckofthewindactionconsideringproperdynamiceffects,thedesignofthinshell,the
designofthincoldformedsection,theevaluationoflocaleffectscausedbynozzleloadandmanyother.Once
thedesignoftheTMDwasdonereducingaMDOFstructureinaSDOFstructure,theeffectivebehaviorof
theTMDwascheckedbyusingdifferentTimeHistoryAnalysismodelingbothstructureandTMD.Thefirst
goaloftheanalysiswasthechecktheequivalentstructuraldampingwhenresonanceconditionoccurswitha
different load shape. The results showed that the designed damping on an equivalent SDOF structure of the
primarystructureisexactlythesamethatthestructure+TMDshowsandthattheTMDisnoteffectiveonthe
vibration modes different from the one tuned. This behavior can be seen as a problem when the structure is
subjectedtoadynamicloadwithawiderangeoffrequency.
Once the TMD offers an increased structural damping only on the tuning frequency it has the maximum
efficiencywhentheactionhasanarrowbandspectrumonthetuningfrequency(i.e.windaction).Sincethe
seismicactionhasusuallyawidebandoffrequency,thesecondgoalofthetimehistoryanalysiswastocheck
the effective behavior against seismic signal. According to the relevant code, a set of seven seismic records
whereselectedandappliedonthestructureinsevendifferentanalysis.Theresultsshowedthatthereduction
offered by the installation of the TMD is related to the dominant frequency of the seismic action and the
dynamicpropertiesoftheprimarystructures.