Structural analysis and optimum design of tower-like structures resting on elastic foundation

In the present study, parametric free vibration, wind-influenced static and seismic dynamic analyses are conducted to investigate soil-structure interaction effects on the structural behavior of a hyperbolic cooling tower resting on elastic foundation. In addition to these, the effects of soil-structure interaction on the optimum design of tower-like structures is investigated by obtaining optimum designs with minimum material cost of a modular steel tower and concrete foundation system supporting a 1.5 MW wind turbine for various wind speeds and elastic foundation models using Differential Evolution (DE), Harmony Search (HS) and Teaching-Learning Based Optimization (TLBO) algorithms. For this purpose, computer programs enabling concurrent execution of SAP2000 with DE, HS, and TLBO algorithms as well as modified Vlasov foundation model are developed using OAPI (Open Application Programming Interface) feature of commercial structural analysis program SAP2000 and MATLAB programming language. As far as the numerical results obtained using elastic foundation models are compared with those obtained considering soil as infinitely rigid, that is, without soil-structure interaction, it can be concluded that soil-structure interaction significantly affects the values of frequency, shell-column forces and moments of the hyperbolic cooling tower and optimum material cost of the wind turbine supporting system.