Abstract: In order to determine whether the tower shape is a contributing factor for the collapse of Ferrybridge cooling towers, a hyperbolic cooling tower with the same shell thickness, height, diameter on the bottom of shell and supporting columns is used for comparison. The difference of dynamic characteristics of two towers is analyzed. The different responses of these two towers under gravity loading, mean wind loading obtained from the code and dynamic wind loading obtained from the wind tunnel test are compared. The results show that the first frequency of Ferrybridge tower is 30% lower than that of the hyperbolic tower. The radial displacements of Ferrybridge tower under wind loading are much larger than those of the hyperbolic tower, and more significant twist distortion can be found in the shell of Ferrybridge tower. The meridian membrane forces on the windward face of Ferrybridge tower under wind pressure increases significantly with the decrease of height and the maximum value is over 40% greater than that of the hyperbolic tower. It is concluded that the tower shape of Ferrybridge tower is not as good as that of the hyperbolic tower, indicating that the tower shape is a contributing factor for the collapse of Ferrybridge cooling towers.