97-01: Design Considerations for a Fiberglass, Field Erected, Closed-Circuit

What is believed to be the world's first fiberglass, field erected, closed-circuit cooling tower has been recently constructed. The paper contains a review of the major design differences between closed-circuit cooling towers in which the air and water streams flow essentially parallel and other more conventional field erected cooling products. The structural design considerations for dead, wind and vibrational loads as well as those required for field erection are offered. Guidelines for the selection of composite and non-composite materials of construction are presented.