Numerical and Comparative Investigation of Dynamic and Seismic Behavior of Wind Turbine Towers by Finite Element Method

Document Type : Research Article

Authors

1 M.Sc. Graduate, Faculty of Civil, Water and Environmental Engineering, Shahid Beheshti University, Tehran, Iran

2 Associate Professor, Faculty of Civil, Water and Environmental Engineering, Shahid Beheshti University, Tehran,Iran

3 Assistant Professor, Faculty of Civil, Water and Environmental Engineering, Shahid Beheshti University, Tehran, Iran

4 Assistant Professor, Renewable Energy Research Group, Power Research Institute, Tehran, Iran

Abstract

Turning to clean energy is inevitable, among which wind energy is one of the most common and available. The
use of wind energy due to its known advantages over other renewable energies has caused the technology of wind
turbines to grow more, and this has led to the increase in the capacity of wind turbines and the commercialization of
larger sizes. By increasing the capacity of wind turbines, the size of the rotor and consequently the height of the
tower necessarily increase. Therefore, the design of wind turbine towers more goes complex day by day, and must
be done specifically on a case-by-case basis. For this purpose, wind turbines should be modeled completely with all
details. One of the most expensive parts of wind turbines is its tower. Considering the whole applied forces and
design criteria and fatigue base on the regulations and guidelines is necessary to achieve a safe performance. In
addition to these factors, in seismic prone areas the dynamic earthquake forces should be considered in analysis and
design of towers. Therefore, in this study, we have tried to study the seismic behavior of a real tower model in
comparison with other dynamic forces, in order to obtain the amount and manner of effect of each force. Standards
generally specify design load combinations for ultimate load and fatigue load analyses. The speed of 11 m/s is the
speed at which, according to the power generation diagram of the studied turbine, the speed of the turbine reaches its
maximum power, and it is assumed that the turbine will be installed in a site where the wind will be at this speed
most of the time, and the probability of earthquake occurrence at this speed is more than other modes.
Therefore, considering the emphasis on considering the earthquake force in seismic areas along with other forces
acting on the wind turbine in the new versions of the regulations in this field, and the seismicity of Iran, a
comparative analysis of seismic load with other forces acting on the wind turbine based on Standard GL, chapter 4,
Table 4.3.2 for turbulent wind of 11 m/s, in the state of zero deviation angle for the 2 MW national wind turbine of
Iran, with an 80-meter steel tower and a 55-meter 3-bladed rotor, in a complete and practical model, with the
modeling of the steel tower structure and concrete foundation and soil layers in the case construction. The comment
has been analyzed and investigated by the dynamic finite element numerical method using Abaqus software.
Considering the location of this wind turbine, with soil layers 6 meters deep, the maximum change in the location of
the tip of the tower by considering the seismic load increased by about 7%, but the significant increase in the
equivalent stress at the height of 50 meters of the tower, despite the low depth of soil layers. The lack of significant
acceleration of the earthquake from the rock bed to the earth's surface was obtained, amounting to 36%. Therefore,
the necessity for simultaneous consideration of earthquake load along with the wind load was well concluded.

Keywords

References

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History

  • Receive Date: 17 August 2022
  • Revise Date: 31 December 2022
  • Accept Date: 23 January 2023

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