Wind shielding in refining and petrochemical facilities

The most influential climatic load affecting the structural design of gulf coast refining and petrochemical facilities is wind. Despite this fact, little has been done to customize wind design for these unique facilities. This paper proposes a probabilistic model to predict the magnitude of shielding that is provided by the vast network of pipe rack structures that encircle these densely arranged facilities. The probabilistic model is built from data obtained through a broad sampling of pipe rack configurations simulated with hurricane-force winds using computational fluid dynamics (CFD). The CFD simulation approach is validated against published wind tunnel data that relate the proposed methodology to code-recognized procedures (i.e. wind load reductions corroborated by wind tunnel testing). A reliability analysis is then carried out to re-calibrate the LRFD design equation to include the proposed shielding effects while maintaining the code-specified level of reliability.

Name thesis:degree_name

M.S.

Level thesis:degree_level

Thesis

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Civil Engineering

Grantor

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Year dc:date

2021

Author dc:creator

• Barto, Jeffrey

Contributors dc:contributor

• Gardoni, Paolo

• Shielding
• Reliability
• Wind
• Industrial
• Performance-Based Design

Statement dc:rights

• Copyright 2020 Jeffrey Barto

Language dc:language

en

Handle dc:identifier

http://hdl.handle.net/2142/109391

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:www.ideals.illinois.edu:2142/109391