The covered coal storage yard for unit No.3 of Takehara thermal power plant of Electric Power Development Co., Ltd. is an enormous structure, for storage of total weight of 150000 tons of coal, composed of cylindrical reinforced concrete and dome-type steel roof. As the loading conditions of massive coal and structural features are unprecedented, measurement for stress estimation at each portion has been conducted shortly after the start of acceptance of the coal, by using strain gages, load cells, pressure meters and thermometers which had been embedded in the structural members. Using the measured strains of reinforcing bars, the section forces of each structural members are estimated, while overall loadings of the structure are formulated by referring to the measured values by pressure meters and thermometers. Stress analysis by Finite Element Method of which model is the same as that used in design stage is then conducted to make comparison between the analyzed section forces and the estimated ones. It is concludingly found that the analysis results are almost identical to the measured ones, which, in turn, proves that several assumptions and methodologies taken in the design stage are verified as well as confirmation for the structural safety.
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