• International journal of steel structures
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• v.18 no.4
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• pp.1318-1324
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• 2018

This paper evaluates the effects of door opening, collar stiffener, and initial imperfection on the ultimate strength of a 10 MW wind tower. The lower segment of the tower was modeled to investigate the ultimate strength using steel cylindrical shell elements of finite element program ABAQUS. The wind tower was classified into three categories; without opening nor stiffener (C1), with opening but no stiffener (C2), and with opening and stiffener (C3). The C2 and C3 were further divided into long axis and short axis categories depending on the position of the opening. Result from linear and nonlinear analyses shows that the bigger the opening the bigger the reduction in strength and the same thing goes for the initial imperfection ratio or ovality of the shell. Also, there is a significant decreased in strength as the initial imperfection ratio increases by as high as 18.08%.

• Wind and Structures
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• v.32 no.5
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• pp.471-485
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• 2021

Onshore wind turbines may experience substantially different wind loads depending on their working conditions, i.e. rotation velocity of rotor blades, incoming freestream wind velocity, pitch angle of rotor blades, and yaw angle of the wind-turbine tower. In the present study, aerodynamic loads acting on a horizontal axis wind turbine were accordingly quantified for the high tip speed ratio (TSR) at high yaw angles because these conditions have previously not been adequately addressed. This was analyzed experimentally on a small-scale wind-turbine model in a boundary layer wind tunnel. The wind-tunnel simulation of the neutrally stratified atmospheric boundary layer (ABL) developing above a flat terrain was generated using the Counihan approach. The ABL was simulated to achieve the conditions of a wind-turbine model operating in similar inflow conditions to those of a prototype wind turbine situated in the lower atmosphere, which is another important aspect of the present work. The ABL and wind-turbine simulation length scale factors were the same (S=300) in order to satisfy the Jensen similarity criterion. Aerodynamic loads experienced by the wind-turbine model subjected to the ABL simulation were studied based on the high frequency force balance (HFFB) measurements. Emphasis was put on the thrust force and the bending moment because these two load components have previously proven to be dominant compared to other load components. The results indicate several important findings. The loads were substantially higher for TSR=10 compared to TSR=5.6. In these conditions, a considerable load reduction was achieved by pitching the rotor blades. For the blade pitch angle at 90°, the loads were ten times lower than the loads of the rotating wind-turbine model. For the blade pitch angle at 12°, the loads were at 50% of the rotating wind-turbine model. The loads were reduced by up to 40% through the yawing of the wind-turbine model, which was observed both for the rotating and the parked wind-turbine model.

• Wind and Structures
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• v.30 no.4
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• pp.433-450
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• 2020

The strong turbulence characteristic of typhoon not only will significantly change flow field characteristics surrounding the large-scale wind turbine and aerodynamic force distribution on surface, but also may cause morphological evolution of coast dune and thereby form sand storms. A 5MW horizontal-axis wind turbine in a wind power plant of southeastern coastal areas in China was chosen to investigate the distribution law of additional loads caused by wind-sand coupling movement of coast dune at landing of strong typhoons. Firstly, a mesoscale Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) mode was introduced in for high spatial resolution simulation of typhoon "Megi". Wind speed profile on the boundary layer of typhoon was gained through fitting based on nonlinear least squares and then it was integrated into the user-defined function (UDF) as an entry condition of small-scaled CFD numerical simulation. On this basis, a synchronous iterative modeling of wind field and sand particle combination was carried out by using a continuous phase and discrete phase. Influencing laws of typhoon and normal wind on moving characteristics of sand particles, equivalent pressure distribution mode of structural surface and characteristics of lift resistance coefficient were compared. Results demonstrated that: Compared with normal wind, mesoscale typhoon intensifies the 3D aerodynamic distribution mode on structural surface of wind turbine significantly. Different from wind loads, sand loads mainly impact on 30° ranges at two sides of the lower windward region on the tower. The ratio between sand loads and wind load reaches 3.937% and the maximum sand pressure coefficient is 0.09. The coupling impact effect of strong typhoon and large sand particles is more significant, in which the resistance coefficient of tower is increased by 9.80% to the maximum extent. The maximum resistance coefficient in typhoon field is 13.79% higher than that in the normal wind field.

• The Transactions of The Korean Institute of Electrical Engineers
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• v.58 no.1
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• pp.14-17
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• 2009

In this paper, A generator of existing vertical type wind turbine system is connected to bevel gear. But, the generator of proposed wind turbine system is connected to Hydraulic torque converter. In case of the proposed wind turbine system, is possible to make torque transmission long distance, set up generator somewhere in between the tower or the ground as well as, nacelle weight can be greatly down. Lightweight of nacelle exactly wind direction tracking can be easily also, cost down of established frame structure and generator setting, maintenance, easy and improvement of system stability.

• Wind and Structures
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• v.37 no.6
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• pp.413-423
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• 2023

Wind turbines are usually steel hollow structures that can be vulnerable to dramatic failures due to high-intensity wind (HIW) events, which are classified as a category of localized windstorms that includes tornadoes and downbursts. Analyzing Wind Turbines (WT) under tornadoes is a challenging-to-achieve task because tornadoes are much more complicated wind fields compared with the synoptic boundary layer wind fields, considering that the tornado's 3-D velocity components vary largely in space. As a result, the supporting tower of the wind turbine and the blades will experience different velocities depending on the location of the event. Wind farms also extend over a large area so that the probability of a localized windstorm event impacting one or more towers is relatively high. Therefore, the built-in-house numerical code "HIW-WT" has been developed to predict the straining actions on the blades considering the variability of the tornado's location and the blades' pitch angle. The developed HIWWT numerical model incorporates different wind fields that were generated from developed CFD models. The developed numerical model was applied on an actual wind turbine under three different tornadoes that have different tornadic structure. It is found that F2 tornado wind fields present significant hazard for the wind turbine blades and have to be taken into account if the hazardous impact of this type of unexpected load is to be avoided.

• Journal of Wind Energy
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• v.5 no.1
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• pp.22-32
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• 2014

The structural design of a wind turbine must show the verification of the structural integrity of all load-carrying components. Also, design load calculations shall be performed using appropriate and accurate methods. In this study, advanced numerical approach for the calculation of design loads based on unsteady computational fluid dynamics (CFD) is presented considering extreme design load conditions such as the extreme coherent gust (ECG) and the 50 year extreme operating gust (EOG). Unsteady aerodynamic loads are calculated based on Reynolds average Navier-Stokes (RANS) equations with shear-stress transport k-ω(SST k-ω) turbulent model. A full three-dimensional 5 MW offshore wind-turbine model with rotating blades, hub, nacelle, and tower configuration is practically considered and its aerodynamic interference effect among blades, nacelle, and tower is also accurately considered herein. Calculated blade loads based on unsteady CFD method with respect to blade azimuth angle are compared with those by NREL FAST code and physically investigated in detail.

• Journal of Wind Energy
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• v.15 no.2
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• pp.23-36
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• 2024

In this study, a health monitoring system was developed for the two most vulnerable parts of a wind tower support structure: the connection between steel towers (L-Flange) and the concrete foundation-steel tower connection. To select assessment parameters for health monitoring, detailed FEM analysis was conducted using the ABAQUS program. Additionally, a testbed was established near the Jeju Woljeongri wind turbine farm to evaluate the applicability of measurement data by installing sensors. Through computational analysis and relevant criteria review, we defined limits for measurement parameters by vulnerable section. We categorized the structural safety evaluation into four stages: normal, caution, warning, and danger, and selected management criteria for each stage. From this, an algorithm to evaluate safety was developed, and a visualized monitoring platform based on the established critical parts monitoring system was developed.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Safety
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• v.33 no.1
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• pp.81-87
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• 2018

The seismic response, the natural frequencies and the mode shapes of an offshore wind turbine with twisted tripod substructure subject to various pile-ground interactions are discussed in this paper. The acceleration responses of the tower head by four historical earthquakes are presented as the seismic response, while the other loads are assumed as ambient loads. For the pile-ground interactions, the fixed, linear and nonlinear models are employed to simulate the interactions and the p-y, t-z and Q-z curves are utilized for the linear and nonlinear models. The curves are designed for stiff, medium and soft clays, and thus, the seven types of the pile-ground interactions are used to compare the seismic response, the acceleration of the tower head. The mode shapes are similar to each other for all types of pile-ground interactions. The natural frequencies, however, are almost same for the three clay types of the linear model, while the natural frequency of the fixed support model is quite different from that of the linear interaction model. The wind turbine with the fixed support model has the biggest magnitude of acceleration. In addition, the nonlinear model is more sensitive to the stiffness of clay than the linear pile-ground interaction model.

• International Journal of Naval Architecture and Ocean Engineering
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• v.12 no.1
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• pp.367-375
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• 2020

This paper presents an integrated analysis about dynamic performance of a Floating Offshore Wind Turbine (FOWT) OC4 DeepCwind with semi-submersible platform under real sea environment. The emphasis of this paper is to investigate how the wave mean drift force and slow-drift wave excitation load (Quadratic transfer function, namely QTF) influence the platform motions, mooring line tension and tower base bending moments. Second order potential theory is being used for computing linear and nonlinear wave effects, including first order wave force, mean drift force and slow-drift excitation loads. Morison model is utilized to account the viscous effect from fluid. This approach considers floating wind turbine as an integrated coupled system. Two time-domain solvers, SIMA (SIMO/RIFLEX/AERODYN) and FAST are being chosen to analyze the global response of the integrated coupled system under small, moderate and severe sea condition. Results show that second order mean drift force and slow-drift force will drift the floater away along wave propagation direction. At the same time, slow-drift force has larger effect than mean drift force. Also tension of the mooring line at fairlead and tower base loads are increased accordingly in all sea conditions under investigation.

• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.23 no.5
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• pp.405-420
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• 2019

In this study, vibration characteristics of offshore wind turbine tower (WTT) with gravity-based foundation (GBF) are identified from dynamic responses under wave-induced excitations. The following approaches are implemented to achieve the objective. Firstly, the operational modal analysis methods such as frequency domain decomposition (FDD) and stochastic subspace identification (SSI) are selected to estimate modal parameters from output-only dynamic responses. Secondly, a GBF WTT model composed of superstructure, substructure and foundation is simulated as a case study by using a structural analysis program, MIDAS FEA. Thirdly, wave pressures acting on the WTT structure are established by nonlinear regular waves which are simulated from a computational fluid software, Flow 3D. Wave-induced acceleration responses of the target structure are analyzed by applying the simulated wave pressures to the GBF WTT model. Finally, modal parameters such as natural frequencies and mode shapes are estimated from the output-only acceleration responses and compared with the results from free vibration analysis. The effect of wave height and period on modal parameter extraction is also investigated for the mode identification of the GBF WTT.