Strengthening Mechanism of Studs for Embedded-Ring Foundation of Wind Turbine Tower

Junling Chen, Jinwei Li, Qize Li and Youquan Feng
Additional contact information
Junling Chen: Department of Structural Engineering, Tongji University, Shanghai 200092, China
Jinwei Li: Department of Structural Engineering, Tongji University, Shanghai 200092, China
Qize Li: Department of Structural Engineering, Tongji University, Shanghai 200092, China
Youquan Feng: Shanghai Fengchang Civil Engineering Technology Co., Ltd., Shanghai 200092, China

Energies, 2021, vol. 14, issue 3, 1-16

Abstract: The embedded-ring wind turbine foundations were widely applied in the early development stage of wind power industries because of its properties such as easy installation and adjustment. However, different damages occurred on some embedded-ring wind turbine foundations in recent years. Based on the common damage phenomena of embedded-ring wind turbine foundations, the structural defects and damage mechanisms of embedded-ring wind turbine foundations are analyzed in a gradual way. Cheese head studs are proposed to be welded on the lateral wall of the steel ring to strengthen the connection between the steel ring and the foundation concrete. The foundation pier is elevated 1 m to increase the embedded depth of the steel ring. The circumferential confining pressure is applied on the lateral side of the foundation pier to lead it into a state of pressure. One simplified method is proposed to calculate the contribution of welding studs in this strengthening method. Taking an embedded-ring wind turbine foundation as an example, the numerical analyses for the original foundation and the reinforced one are carried out to compare the stress and strain distribution changes. Based on the numerical results corresponding to the peak and valley value loads, the fatigue life of the concrete and studs are evaluated according to the relevant design codes. The numerical results show that this strengthening method can coordinate the deformation of the embedded steel ring and the foundation concrete by circumferential prestressing and welding studs. The maximum principal stresses of the foundation pier and the fatigue stress range of the concrete around the bottom of the steel ring have been greatly reduced after strengthening. The gaps between the embedded steel ring and the foundation pier are also obviously decreased because of these strengthening measures. The stress concentration phenomena of the concrete around the T-shaped flange have been remarkably improved. The fatigue life can meet the requirements of relevant design codes after strengthening. Therefore, it can be concluded that the safety performance and service life of the embedded-ring foundation can be guaranteed.

Keywords: wind turbine; studs; finite element analysis; embedded-ring foundation; strengthening 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: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/14/3/710/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/14/3/710/ (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:14:y:2021:i:3:p:710-:d:489952

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 ().