Comparison of Wind-Induced Interference Criteria and Effects under Typical Towers-group Arrangements

Interference factors (IFs) are commonly used to envelope various dynamic loading distributions due to wind-induced interference effects. However, those parameters are discrete in values for different evaluation criteria. Aiming at unifying cognitive distinction for series equivalent criteria about IFs, cooling tower groups with typical 6-towers arrangement were selected to conduct case studies by wind tunnel tests and numerical calculation, investigating interference effects among classical rectangular and rhombic arrangement. 25 kinds of IFs' definitions were totally compared basing on three index levels, namely loading, internal force and reinforcement ratio. Wind pressure measurements about 1:200 reduced-scale model were carried out in TJ-3 wind tunnel, corresponding 3D dynamic or static calculation were finished to analyse IFs. Main conclusions can be summarized, such as there are great distinctions about IFs’ value for different criteria, whose maximum may reach 42%, IFs’ variance coefficients in loading level would be the largest, and those in reinforcement level are the smallest, etc.