• Wind and Structures
• /
• 제31권1호
• /
• pp.1-14
• /
• 2020

This paper presents a method of estimation of fatigue demands on connection bolts of tubular steel wind turbine towers. The presented method relies on numerical simulation of aerodynamic loads and structural behavior of bolted connections modeled using finite element method. Variability of wind parameters is represented by a set of values derived from their probability densities, which are adjusted based on field measurements. Numerically generated stress time-series show agreement with the measurements from strain gauges inside bolts, in terms of power spectra and the resulting damage. Position of each bolt has a determining effect on its fatigue damage. The proposed framework for fatigue life estimation represents the complexities in loading and local behavior of the structure. On the other hand, the developed procedure is computationally efficient since it requires a limited number of simulations for statistically representing the wind variations.

• Steel and Composite Structures
• /
• 제19권5호
• /
• pp.1115-1144
• /
• 2015

Current climate conditions along with advances in technology make further design and verification methods for structural strength and reliability of wind turbine towers imperative. Along with the growing interest for "green" energy, the wind energy sector has been developed tremendously the past decades. To this end, the improvement of wind turbine towers in terms of structural detailing and performance result in more efficient, durable and robust structures that facilitate their wider application, thus leading to energy harvesting increase. The wind tower industry is set to expand to greater heights than before and tapered steel towers with a circular cross-section are widely used as more capable of carrying heavier loads. The present study focuses on the improvement of the structural response of steel wind turbine towers, by means of internal stiffening. A thorough investigation of the contribution of stiffening rings to the overall structural behavior of the tower is being carried out. These stiffening rings are placed along the tower height to reduce local buckling phenomena, thus increasing the buckling strength of steel wind energy towers and leading the structure to a behavior closer to the one provided by the beam theory. Additionally to ring stiffeners, vertical stiffening schemes are studied to eliminate the presence of short wavelength buckles due to bending. For the purposes of this research, finite element analysis is applied in order to describe and predict in an accurate way the structural response of a model tower stiffened by internal stiffeners. Moreover, a parametric study is being performed in order to investigate the effect of the stiffeners' number to the functionality of the aforementioned stiffening systems and the improved structural behavior of the overall wind converter.

• KEPCO Journal on Electric Power and Energy
• /
• 제5권4호
• /
• pp.257-262
• /
• 2019

Lattice steel towers for overhead transmission lines have been replaced by tubular steel poles due to the visual impact of large and complex shape of truss type. Demand for tubular steel poles consisting of a single frame member continues to grow because of its advantages such as visual minimization, architectural appeal and minimal site consumptions. However, there are some constraints on the transportation and construction. As the diameter of tower base has been enlarged, it may exceed minimum height limit required to pass the tunnel in case of land transportation. Also, in a narrow place where it is not easy to secure the installation areas such as mountainous places, there might be some areas wherein it must secure a wide working space so that large vehicles and working cranes will be allowed to enter. In this paper, we presented a vertical separated tubular steel pole, which is a new type of support that can be implemented for general purpose such as mountainous areas or narrow areas to improve the issues raised by breaking away from the conventional design and fabrication methods. Technical approaches for overcoming the limit of the cross-sectional size is to separate and modularize the cross-section of the tubular steel pole designed with a size that cannot be carried or assembled, and to lighten it with a weight capable of being transported and assembled in a narrow space or mountainous area. As a result of this research, it will be possible to enter small and medium sized vehicles in locations where it is restricted to transport by large-sized vehicles. In the case of mountainous areas, it will be possible to divide it into a weight capable of being carried by a helicopter and it will be easy to adjust and fabricate it with individual modules. Furthermore, in order to break away from the traditional construction method, we proposed the equipment that can be applied to the assembly of Tubular Steel Pole without using a large crane in locations where there is no accessible road or in locations wherein large cranes cannot enter. In particular, this paper shows the movable assembling equipment and some methods that are specialized for vertical separated tubular steel pole consisting of members with reduced weight. The proposed assembly equipment is a device for assembling the body of the Tubular Steel Poles. It will be installed inside the support and the modules can be lifted by using the support itself.

• 한국지진공학회논문집
• /
• 제16권3호
• /
• pp.1-12
• /
• 2012

이 논문에서는 유체-구조물-지반의 상호작용을 고려한 해상풍력발전기의 지진응답해석법을 제시하였다. 풍력발전기는 tower와 그 정점에 집중된 질량으로 모델링 되었다. 이 tower는 유연한 해저지반에 기초하고 있는 튜브형 cantilever로 이상화하였다. Tower와 해수 간의 동적 상호작용, 기초와 지반간의 동적 상호작용이 고려된 유체-구조물-지반 연성계의 지배방정식은 부분구조법과 Rayleigh-Ritz방법에 의해서 유도되었다. 해수는 압축성 비점성 이상 유체로 이상화하였다. 해수로 포화된 층상지반에 놓인 footing의 동적 강성은 Thin Layer법에 의해서 계산하여 상부구조물 모델과 결합시켰다. 이 해석법을 해상풍력발전기 모델의 지진응답해석에 적용하였다. 해석 결과를 준거해와 비교해서 제안한 해석법의 타당성을 검증하였다. Tower의 유연성, 지반의 강성이 해상풍력발전기 지진거동에 미치는 영향을 분석하였다. 유체-구조물 상호작용과 지반-구조물 상호작용의 지진응답에 대한 상대적인 중요도를 비교 평가하였다.

• 대한설비공학회:학술대회논문집
• /
• 대한설비공학회 2007년도 동계학술발표대회 논문집
• /
• pp.564-569
• /
• 2007

This study describes thermal performance of solar cooling and hot water for demonstration system with ETSC(Evacuated tubular solar collector) installed at Seo-gu art center of Kwangju. For demonstration study, a reading room with about 350㎡ was heated and cooled with the solar system. The system was consisted of ETSCs, storage tank, hot water supply tank, subsidiary boiler, subsidiary tank, absorption chiller, chiller storage tank, and cooling tower. The results of the experimental study indicated that the total solar energy gain as daily performance on a sunny day (August 25, 2007) with total daily radiation of $606\;W/m^2$ was 671 kWh, the collecting efficiency of 55%. In the case of supplies to heat source more than $83^{\circ}C$, cooling time operated by solar was driven 8.8 hours, cooling energy generated by solar system was 179 kWh and the solar cooling fraction was 79.2%, and hot water supplied with surplus heat source by the solar system was 201 kWh.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
• /
• 제89권3호
• /
• pp.309-321
• /
• 2024

In this paper, the effect of semi-rigid connections on the stability bearing capacity of cross-bracings in steel tubular transmission towers is investigated. Herein, a prediction method based on the hybrid model which is a combination of particle swarm optimization (PSO) and backpropagation neural network (BPNN) is proposed to accurately predict the stability bearing capacity of cross-bracings with semi-rigid connections and to efficiently conduct its probabilistic assessment. Firstly, the establishment of the finite element (FE) model of cross-bracings with semi-rigid connections is developed on the basis of the development of the mechanical model. Then, a dataset of 7425 samples generated by the FE model is used to train and test the PSO-BPNN model, and the accuracy of the proposed method is evaluated. Finally, the probabilistic assessment for the stability bearing capacity of cross-bracings with semi-rigid connections is conducted based on the proposed method and the Monte Carlo simulation, in which the geometric and material properties including the outer diameter and thickness of cross-sections and the yield strength of steel are considered as random variables. The results indicate that the proposed method based on the PSO-BPNN model has high accuracy in predicting the stability bearing capacity of cross-bracings with semi-rigid connections. Meanwhile, the semi-rigid connections could enhance the stability bearing capacity of cross-bracings and the reliability of cross-bracings would significantly increase after considering semi-rigid connections.

• Smart Structures and Systems
• /
• 제21권1호
• /
• pp.99-111
• /
• 2018

Wind induced large bending oscillation amplitudes in tall and slender telecommunication steel towers may lead to precocious fatigue cracks and consequent risk of collapse of these structures, many of them installed in rural areas alongside highways and in highly populated urban areas. Varying stress amplitudes at hot spots may be attenuated by means of passive control mechanical devices installed in the tower. This paper gives an account of both mathematical-numerical model and the technique applied to design and evaluate the performance of a double controller installed in existing towers which is composed by a nonlinear pendulum and a novel type of passive controller described herein as a planar motion disk mounted on shear springs. Results of experimental measurements carried out on two slender tubular steel towers under wind action demonstrate the efficiency of the double controllers in attenuating the towers bending oscillation amplitudes and consequent stress amplitudes extending the towers fatigue life.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
• /
• 제90권1호
• /
• pp.27-40
• /
• 2024

The prediction of VIV amplitude is essential for the design and fatigue life estimation of steel tubes in tubular transmission towers. Limited to costly and time-consuming traditional experimental and computational fluid dynamics (CFD) methods, a machine learning (ML)-based method is proposed to efficiently predict the VIV amplitude of steel tubes in transmission towers. Firstly, by introducing the first-order mode shape to the two-dimensional CFD method, a simplified response analysis method (SRAM) is presented to calculate the VIV amplitude of steel tubes in transmission towers, which enables to build a dataset for training ML models. Then, by taking mass ratio M^*, damping ratio ξ, and reduced velocity U^* as the input variables, a Kriging-based prediction method (KPM) is further proposed to estimate the VIV amplitude of steel tubes in transmission towers by combining the SRAM with the Kriging-based ML model. Finally, the feasibility and effectiveness of the proposed methods are demonstrated by using three full-scale steel tubes with C-shaped, Cross-shaped, and Flange-plate joints, respectively. The results show that the SRAM can reasonably calculate the VIV amplitude, in which the relative errors of VIV maximum amplitude in three examples are less than 6%. Meanwhile, the KPM can well predict the VIV amplitude of steel tubes in transmission towers within the studied range of M^*, ξ and U^*. Particularly, the KPM presents an excellent capability in estimating the VIV maximum amplitude by using the reduced damping parameter S_G.

• 대한기계학회논문집A
• /
• 제39권7호
• /
• pp.721-727
• /
• 2015

풍력 발전기용 기계부품은 주로 자유단조 공법을 통하여 제조된다. 본 연구는 풍력발전기용 타워부품인 도아프레임의 제조하기 위한 발전된 단조공법에 관한 연구이다. 개발된 단조공법의 장점은 원소재 회수율을 높임에 따라 원소재 투입량을 줄임으로 제조원가를 낮춘다. 기존의 단조공업은 유압프레스를 이용하여 단조작업이 이루어지며 최종제품과 단조품의 형상 차이로인하여 많은 부분이 가공으로 제거된다. 하지만 제안된 단조공법은 열간 자유단조와 링롤링공법을 통하여 원소재 회수율을 높이게 된다. 새로운 공법의 유효성은 링롤링 블랭크의 치수와 밀접한 관련이 있기 때문에 유한요소해석을 통하여 블랭크의 치수를 최적화 하였다. 유한요소해석을 통하여 얻은 단조품의 치수는 시제품 생산을 통하여 검증하였다.

• 한국구조물진단유지관리공학회 논문집
• /
• 제28권3호
• /
• pp.19-26
• /
• 2024

본 연구에서는 풍력타워 지지구조 연결부 1/12.5 축소모형 실험체의 압축거동을 실험적으로 분석하였다. 압축강도 140MPa의 고성능 시멘트계 그라우트를 연결부에 충전하였으며, 전단키 간격, 형상과 연결부 길이를 변수로 하여 실험을 수행하였다. 연결부 내의 전단키의 개수가 동일한 경우 연결부 길이보단 전단키의 간격이 작을수록 부착전단강도가 높게 나타났으며, 동일한 간격과 연결부 길이에서는 전단키의 높이가 높을수록 강도가 높게 나타났다. 또한 연결부 슬립량 1.0mm 내외까지 선형거동을 한 후 하중이 증가함에 따라 비선형 거동을 한후 7.0mm 내외의 슬립에서 최대 강도에 도달하는 것으로 나타났다. 전단키의 형상과 간격 등에 따라 강도가 증가함에 따라 파괴형태는 계면전단파괴에서 그라우트 파괴로 변화하는 것으로 나타났으며, 강섬유에 의해 취성적인 파괴는 발생하지 않는 것으로 나타났다.