Numerical Investigation of the Effect of Aerodynamic and Seismic Load Interaction on the Stability of Land-Based Wind Turbine Towers
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Date
2023-06-13
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Addis Ababa University
Abstract
Wind energy is one form of renewable energy and the utilization of wind energy is
rapidly growing worldwide due to its a bundance. Wind turbines are a feasible, cost
effective, and durable source of wind energy, and ensuring their safety is essential for
proper service life operation to protect the investment. The installation of wind turbines
in seismic regions is growing t o meet renewable energy demand around the world, and
analyzing the stability of wind turbines in these regions is critical. This research analyzes
the effect of aerodynamic and seismic load interaction on the stability of land based
horizontal axis wind tu rbine towers built in seismic areas. The methodology
implemented to conduct this study is a decoupling approach to analyze the effect of wind
loads and seismic loads independently and combine results obtained from ANSYS
Workbench 2022. A reliable finite el ement model is established by validating modal
analysis results with experimental values. Then, global responses such as top tower
displacement and second order (P Δ) effect, and local responses such as maximum Von
Mises stress and eigenvalue buckling anal ysis of wind turbine towers were conducted.
Earthquake loads are found to be dominant loads compared to wind loads for all wind
turbines and earthquake induced emergency shutdown condition is found to be the most
critical operation condition for all wind t urbines. In addition, the second order (P Δ)
effect from analysis of wind turbine towers shows that 1.5MW and 5MW wind turbine
towers are significantly affected, but P Δ is negligible for 65kW wind turbine. Moreover,
a 1.5MW wind turbine has higher top tow er displacement and maximum Von Mises
stress compared to a 5MW wind turbine which is due to the effect of the shell property of
the tower and the weight of wind turbines. Furthermore, the characteristics of the
acceleration vs time records are also found t o have a significant effect on the response
behavior of the turbines rather than the magnitude and distance earthquake records are
measured from the source alone. This study emphasizes the need to consider the impact
of the second order (P Δ) effect for th e design of 1.5MW and 5MW wind turbines to
avoid structural stability failure.
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Keywords
Aerodynamic, Seismic Load, Land-Based Wind Turbine Towers, Numerical Investigation