Method of mounting a natural draft cooling tower

A method of assembling and erecting a cooling tower, especially a natural draft cooling tower of great height and diameter which has a light-weight mantle constituted by a skin attached to multiple cable grids and extending between a single central support column and a foundation, the assembly method comprising the steps of:

• constructing the central support column on a foundation as a free-standing structure to a height in excess of the intended height of the tower mantle;
• assembling on the ground, concentrically spaced from the central support column, a pressure ring constituting the upper rim of the tower mantle;
• positioning a lifting ring near the foot of said column so as to surround the latter with little clearance;
• attaching to the lifting ring a series of radially regularly spaced supporting cables connecting the lifting ring to the pressure ring for suspension of the latter from the former at a vertical distance substantially corresponding to the difference in height between the central support column and the tower mantle;
• attaching to the pressure ring the ends of at least two series of cables in a pattern of intersecting cable grids, designed to extend diagonally downwardly between the pressure ring and the foundation, to form a hyperboloid-shaped, composite cable grid as part of the tower mantle;
• advancing the lifting ring upwardly along the central support column, thereby raising the pressure ring which is connected thereto and extending the cable grids which are connected to the latter;
• and
• securing the lifting ring in relation to the central support column in the fully extended position of the tower mantle.