OPTIMUM DESIGN RESEARCH ON STEEL FRAME PRE-HEATER TOWER OF CEMENT KILN

Pre-heater tower is an important structure of the new-style dry process cement production line. The pre-heater tower structure is often designed according to related codes for civil high-rise buildings. Due to special load condition, technical requirements and equipment layout, the tower frame structure has restricted structural layout and different structural performance. In this paper, a 5000TPD double series cement kiln was taken as a case study and the structure design of its braced steel frame pre-heater tower was optimized. Based on scheme comparison and the technical requirements, the optimum design scheme was determined to be re-arrangement of columns to reduce the beam span and replacing H-shape steel columns by rectangular hollow section columns or concrete-filled ones. About 25% of the total amount of steel was saved by the optimum design. In addition, the structural characteristics of the steel frame pre-heater tower were studied.