Finite Element Analysis of High Glass Fiber Reinforced Polymer Chimney

Due to their high corrosion and chemical resistance, glass fiber reinforced plastic (GFRP) materials are increasingly being used in the construction of industrial chimneys. The design of a chimney is governed by dead loads, wind loads, thermal loads and seismic loads. In this paper, the finite element model of a 60m high FRP chimney with complex connections is established using finite element software ANSYS10.0. This study involves numerical calculations of strength of the FRP laminated composite shells suffering from various combinations of the above loads in accordance with the Tsai-Wu theory. In the meanwhile, an extensive study is then conducted to analyze the connecting parts of the structure, such as anchors, steel beams and bolts etc. The results show that the thermal loads are as important as wind loads and seismic loads for the high chimney structure.