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ABSTRACT
Buckling of a wind turbine tower with different imperfections is studied through linear and
nonlinear numerical analysis, and the effect of the initial imperfections of the wind turbine tower
on the buckling capability under lateral loads is also investigated. The maximum initial
imperfections which are derived from EN 1993-1-6 and DNV-OS-C 401 are added into the
nonlinear analysis through the first buckling mode. It is shown that these initial deformations
significantly reduce the load carrying capability of the structure while linear buckling analysis
gives no significant difference in the buckling resistance under the different types of
imperfections. The design checks are also performed for four different classes of imperfections
based on nonlinear analysis results. It can be concluded that the incorporation of the initial
imperfections and the lateral loads into the tower models which form the basis for design criteria
should be emphasized.
INTRODUCTION
The failure of a wind turbine tower is usually due to buckling, because tower is a long
slender structure and there is wind load in the lateral direction. Evidence of this type of damage
of wind turbine tower was compiled by in (Lee, 2012). Because of the catastrophic buckling
failure, the reliable prediction of buckling strength of wind turbine towers is important.
From perspective of engineering, imperfections such as geometrical and structural
imperfections are unavoidable, which affect the relationship between the applied loads and
deflections (Prabu et al. 2010). Silva presented that the nonlinear buckling analysis should be
performed by considering the imperfect geometry (Silva, 2006).
It is presented in (Shahzad et al. 2007) that geometric imperfection has major effect on
buckling strength and behaviour of shells under different loading conditions of compression,
bending, torsion and pressure. Guo (Guo et al. 2011) studied the influence of initial geometry
imperfections of wind turbine tower by using pushover analysis and it was concluded that the
initial geometry deformation has a little influence on the bearing capacity and ductility.
In present paper, linear buckling analyses of different types of imperfections are carried out
to determine the worst buckling mode which would be served as an imperfect model for
nonlinear analysis. The first eigenmode multiplied by a factor is chosen to introduce to the
nonlinear analysis as maximum equivalent imperfections whereas the design checks are
performed for imperfect towers based on the results of nonlinear analysis.
The purpose of this research is to study how imperfections affect buckling capability of the
offshore wind turbine tower under code provisions (Eurocodes and DNV). It is also expected that
this study will verify that the initial geometrical imperfections should be incorporated carefully
in the design of offshore wind turbine tower.
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Hub Rotor Tower top Tower base Weight (kg) Total weight
height (m) diameter (m) diameter (m) diameter (m) Nacelle and rotor Tower (kg)
86 115.0 3.07 5.0 200,360 322,947 523,307
ANSYS is utilized to perform the evaluation of buckling strength of offshore wind turbine
tower (OWT). The geometry model of tower and blades is a 4-node elastic shell (SHELL 181)
which has 6 DOF and the nacelle model is SOLID45.
It is common practice to treat the tower like a structure ‘fixed’ at the base with no
consideration of the soil-foundation interaction. In present paper, the wind turbine tower has an
end fixed condition at the mud line.
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Figure 5. Von Mises stress and strain of wind turbine tower at limit load (Pmax).
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where the first eigenmode occurs. The amplitude of equivalent geometrical imperfection (δmax) is
taken as the larger value of
δeq,1 lg Un,1 or δeq,2 n i tUn,2 (1)
where lg is the gauge length (seen in Figure 6); t is thickness; ni is the multiplier for appropriate
tolerance level (taken as 25); and Un,1 and Un,2 are dimple imperfections parameters which were
taken as 0.01, 0.016 and 0.025 for the fabrication tolerance quality class A, B and C,
respectively.
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k GMNIA rGMNIA
rRd 1.0 (3)
γ ml
where rRd is the design buckling resistance ratio, the factor of safety γm1 should not have a value
lower than 1.1 and kGMNIA is the calibration factor depending on the results of reliability check.
So, the factor kGMNIA = 0.95 which was derived from the results of buckling and post-buckling
analysis in ANSYS mechanical APDL technology demonstration guide is adopted in Equation 3
(ANSYS, 2013). The design verifications for four imperfection classes are shown in Table 3.
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Table 3. Effect of imperfection on the buckling strength and the design of OWT.
Class δmax (m) Limit load rGMNIA rGMNIA/rGMNA rRd Effect on design
A 0.018 G+2.24W 1.164 0.93 1.01 Satisfied
B 0.028 G+2.14W 1.145 0.92 0.99 Not satisfied
C 0.044 G+2.08W 1.123 0.90 0.97 Not satisfied
DNV 0.021 G+2.21W 1.158 0.93 1.00 Satisfied
Based on the results obtained, it can be clearly seen that the effect of imperfections should be
emphasized for determining buckling strength and design. Moreover, since the ratios of rGMNIA to
rGMNA for all classes of imperfections is much larger than the elastic imperfection reduction
factor (α=0.5), it can be said that the shell has entered into plastic state, before reaching limit
load.
CONCLUSIONS
Linear buckling and nonlinear buckling analyses are carried out on offshore wind turbine
tower, considering geometrical imperfections proposed by Eurocodes and DNV. The results of
this study emphasize the need for incorporation of the initial imperfection under lateral loads for
design criteria.
(1) Based on linear buckling analysis of imperfect shells (out-of-roundness, accidental
eccentricity and dimples), the results indicate that the influences of out-of-roundness and
eccentricity imperfections are insignificant to the buckling resistance of the tower.
(2) Compared to other types of imperfections, the dimple imperfection is the worse pattern
for the buckling strength and this imperfection is introduced to OWT model in nonlinear
buckling analysis.
(3) For geometrically and materially nonlinear imperfection analysis (GMNIA), the
introducing of imperfection is straightforward by multiplying first-eigenmode by a factor,
in order to accomplish the equivalent imperfections proposed in Eurocodes (imperfection
Class A, B and C) and DNV-OS-C 401(DNV).
(4) Based on nonlinear buckling analysis, the significant differences are found in the limit
loads for different imperfection classes. It can be said that the buckling strength of perfect
model was significantly reduced due to equivalent imperfections.
(5) The limit loads and failure patterns of the tower with imperfections (Class A and DNV)
are almost identical since the maximum imperfections (δmax) of Class A (Eurocode) and
DNV are closely similar and their design buckling resistance ratios rRd satisfy the design
requirement under maximum loading conditions.
(6) The other imperfection classes (Class B and Class C) should also be paid attention
whether these imperfections fulfill the design requirements. If not, measure like
straightening should be taken to improve the imperfections to Class A carefully.
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Through this study, it can be concluded that initial imperfections should be of great concern
to the designers.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This work is supported by the Overseas Famous Teachers Project of Education Department
(MS2011BJKJ005).
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REFERENCES
ANSYS, (2013). Inc. ANSYS mechanical APDL technology demonstration guide, USA.
DNV-OS-C 401, (2010). Fabrication and testing of offshore structures, Det Norske Veritas:
Offshore Standard.
DNV-OS-J 101, (2013). Design of Offshore Wind Turbine Structures, Det Norske Veritas:
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EN 1991-1-4, (2005). Eurocode 1: Actions on structures. Part 1–4 General actions: Wind
actions, European Committee for standardization.
EN 1993-1-6, (2007). Eurocode 3: Design of steel structures. Part 1–6 Strength and stability of
shell structures, European Committee for standardization.
Guo, L. et al., (2011). “Pushover analysis of a 53 m high wind turbine tower.” Advanced Science
Letters, 4: 1–7.
Kang-Su Lee and Hyung-Joon Bang (2012). “A Study on the Prediction of Lateral Buckling
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Prabu, B. et al., (2010). “Parametric study on buckling behaviour of thin stainless steel
cylindrical shells for circular dent dimensional variations under uniform axial compression”.
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Shahzad, K. et al., (2007). “Effect of geometric imperfection on buckling strength of cylindrical
shells”. Failure of Engineering Materials and Structures, Code 40.
Silva, V.D., (2006). Mechanics and Strength of Materials, In Springer, Netherland.
Veljkovic, M. et al., (2012). High-strength tower in steel for wind turbines (HISTWIN),
Directorate-General for Research and Innovation, European Union.
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