Buckling Analysis for Wind Turbine Tower Design: Thrust Load versus Compression Load Based on Energy Method

Yang Ma, Pedro Martinez-Vazquez and Charalampos Baniotopoulos
Additional contact information
Yang Ma: Department of Civil Engineering, School of Engineering, University of Birmingham, Birmingham B15 2TT, UK
Pedro Martinez-Vazquez: Department of Civil Engineering, School of Engineering, University of Birmingham, Birmingham B15 2TT, UK
Charalampos Baniotopoulos: Department of Civil Engineering, School of Engineering, University of Birmingham, Birmingham B15 2TT, UK

Energies, 2020, vol. 13, issue 20, 1-33

Abstract: Tubular steel towers are the most common design solution for supporting medium-to-high-rise wind turbines. Notwithstanding, historical failure incidence records reveal buckling modes as a common type of failure of shell structures. It is thus necessary to revisit the towers’ performance against bending-compression interactions that could unchain buckling modes. The present investigation scrutinises buckling performances of a cylindrical steel shell under combined load, by means of the energy method. Within the proposed framework, the differential equations to obtain dimensionless expressions showed the energy-displacement relations taking place along the shell surface. Furthermore, shell models integrated with initial imperfection have been embedded into finite element algorithms based on the Riks method. The results show buckling evolution paths largely affected by bending moments lead to section distortions (oval-shaped) that in turn change the strain energy dissipation routine and section curvature. The shell geometrical parameters also show a strong influence on buckling effects seemingly linked to a noticeable reduction of the shell bearing capacity during the combined loading scenarios.

Keywords: wind turbine tower; shell structure; buckling; combined load; energy method; finite element method; riks method (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/13/20/5302/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/13/20/5302/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jeners:v:13:y:2020:i:20:p:5302-:d:426662

Access Statistics for this article

Energies is currently edited by Ms. Agatha Cao

More articles in Energies from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().