Wind Turbine Tower Failure Modes under Seismic and Wind Loads
Publication: Journal of Performance of Constructed Facilities
Volume 33, Issue 2
Abstract
This paper studies the structural responses and failure modes of a 1.5-MW horizontal-axis wind turbine under strong ground motions and wind loading. Ground motions were selected and scaled to match the two design response spectra given by the seismic code, and wind loads were generated considering tropical cyclone scenarios. Nonlinear dynamic time-history analyses were conducted and structural performances under wind loads as well as short- and long-period ground motions compared. The results show that under strong wind loads the collapse of the wind turbine tower is driven by the formation of a plastic hinge at the lower section of the tower. This area is also critical when the tower is subject to most ground motions. However, some short-period earthquakes trigger the collapse of the middle and upper parts of the tower due to the increased contribution of high-order vibration modes. Although long-period ground motions tend to result in greater structural responses, short-period earthquakes may cause brittle failure modes in which the full plastic hinge develops quickly in regions of the tower with only a moderate energy dissipation capacity. Based on these results, recommendations for future turbine designs are proposed.
Get full access to this article
View all available purchase options and get full access to this article.
Acknowledgments
The authors would like to acknowledge the support of the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. U1710111), International Collaboration Program of Science and Technology Commission of the Ministry of Science and Technology, China (Grant No. 2016YFE0105600), International Collaboration Program of Science and Technology Commission of Shanghai Municipality (Grant No. 16510711300) and Sichuan Province (Grant No. 18GJHZ0111), the 111 Project (Grant No. B18062), and the Fundamental Research Funds for Central Universities of China (Grant Nos. 20822041B4178 and 0200219230).
References
Aboshosha, H., A. Elshaer, G. T. Bitusamlak, and A. E. Damatty. 2015. “Consistent inflow turbulence generator for LES evaluation of wind-induced responses for tall buildings.” J. Wind Eng. Ind. Aerodyn. 142: 198–216. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jweia.2015.04.004.
Asareh, M. A., W. Schonberg, and J. Volz. 2016. “Fragility analysis of a 5-MW NREL wind turbine considering aero-elastic and seismic interaction using finite element method.” Finite Elem. Anal. Des. 120: 57–67. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.finel.2016.06.006.
Camara, A., R. Cristantielli, M. A. Astiz, and C. Málaga-Chuquitaype. 2017. “Design of hysteretic dampers with optimal ductility for the transverse seismic control of cable-stayed bridges.” Earthquake Eng. Struct. Dyn. 46: 1811–1833. https://doi.org/10.1002/eqe.2884.
Chen, X., C. Li, and J. Xu. 2015. “Failure investigation on a coastal wind farm damaged by super typhoon: A forensic engineering study.” J. Wind Eng. Ind. Aerodyn. 147: 132–142. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jweia.2015.10.007.
Dai, K., A. Bergot, C. Liang, and W. Xiang. 2015a. “Environmental issues associated with wind energy: A review.” Renewable Energy 75: 911–921. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.renene.2014.10.074.
Dai, K., S. Chen, M. Luo, and G. Loflin. 2017a. “A framework for holistic designs of power line systems based on lessons learned from Super Typhoon Haiyan.” Sustainable Cities Soc. 35: 350–364. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scs.2017.08.006.
Dai, K., Y. Huang, C. Gong, Z. Huang, and X. Ren. 2015b. “Rapid seismic analysis methodology for in-service wind turbine towers.” Earthquake Eng. Eng. Vibr. 14 (3): 539–548. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11803-015-0043-0.
Dai, K., C. Sheng, Z. Zhao, Z. Yi, A. Camara, and G. Bitsuamlak. 2017b. “Nonlinear response history analysis and collapse mode study of a wind turbine tower subjected to tropical cyclonic winds.” Wind Struct. 1 (25): 79–100. https://doi.org/10.12989/was.2017.25.1.079.
Dai, K., Y. Wang, Y. Huang, W. Zhu, and Y. Xu. 2017c. “Development of a modified stochastic subspace identification method for vibration based structural health monitoring of in service utility scale wind turbine towers.” Wind Energy 20 (10): 1687–1710. https://doi.org/10.1002/we.2117.
GL (Germanischer Lloyd). 2010. Guideline for the certification of wind turbines. Hamburg, Germany: GL Renewables Certification.
Guo, L., C. M. Uang, A. Elgamal, I. Prowell, and S. Zhang. 2011. “Pushover analysis of a 53 m high wind turbine tower.” Adv. Sci. Lett. 4 (3): 656–662. https://doi.org/10.1166/asl.2011.1336.
Hansen, M. O. L. 2008. Aerodynamics of wind turbines. 2nd ed. London: Earthscan.
Hawbecker, P., S. Base, and L. Manuel. 2017. “Realistic simulations of the July 1, 2011 severe wind event over the Buffalo Ridge Wind Farm.” Wind Energy 20 (11): 1803–1822. https://doi.org/10.1002/we.2122.
Hilber, H., T. Hughes, and R. Taylor. 1977. “Improved numerical dissipation for time integration algorithms in structural dynamics.” Earthquake Eng. Struct. Dyn. 5 (3): 283–292. https://doi.org/10.1002/eqe.4290050306.
IEC (International Electrotechnical Commission). 2005. Wind turbines–part 1: design requirements. IEC 61400-3, Geneva: IEC.
Ishihara, T., A. Yamaguchi, K. Takahara, T. Mekaru, and S. Matsuura. 2005. “An analysis of damaged wind turbines by typhoon Maemi in 2003.” In Proc., 6th Asia-Pacific Conf. on Wind Engineering, 1413–1428. Daejeon, South Korea: Techno-Press.
Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development of the People’s Republic of China. 2010. Code for seismic design of buildings. GB 50011. Beijing: Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development of the People’s Republic of China.
Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development of the People’s Republic of China. 2012. Load code for the design of building structures. GB 50009. Beijing: Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development of the People’s Republic of China.
Mo, R., H. Kang, M. Li, and X. Zhao. 2017. “Seismic fragility analysis of monopile offshore wind turbines under different operational conditions.” Energies 10 (7): 1037. https://doi.org/10.3390/en10071037.
Nuta, E., C. Christopoulos, and J. A. Packer. 2011. “Methodology for seismic risk assessment for tubular steel Wind turbine towers: Application to Canadian seismic environment.” Can. J. Civ. Eng. 38 (3): 293–304. https://doi.org/10.1139/L11-002.
Patil, A., S. Jung, and O. S. Kwon. 2016. “Structural performance of a parked wind turbine tower subjected to strong ground motions.” Eng. Struct. 120: 92–102. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.engstruct.2016.04.020.
PEER (Pacific Earthquake Engineering Research Centre). 2013. “PEER ground motion database.” Accessed October 20, 2017. https://ngawest2.berkeley.edu/site#disclaimer.
Prowell, I., A. Elgamal, C. M. Uang, J. E. Luco, H. Romanowitz, and E. Duggan. 2014. “Shake table testing and numerical simulation of a utility-scale wind turbine including operational effects.” Wind Energy 17 (7): 997–1016. https://doi.org/10.1002/we.1615.
Prowell, I., M. Veletzos, A. Elgamal, and J. Restrepo. 2009. “Experimental and numerical seismic response of a 65 kW wind turbine.” J. Earthquake Eng. 13 (8): 1172–1190. https://doi.org/10.1080/13632460902898324.
Sadowski, A. J., A. Camara, C. Málaga-Chuquitaype, and K. Dai. 2017. “Seismic analysis of a tall metal wind turbine support tower with realistic geometric imperfections.” Earthquake Eng. Struct. Dyn. 46 (2): 201–219. https://doi.org/10.1002/eqe.2785.
Smith, V., and H. Mahmoud. 2016. “Multihazard assessment of wind turbine towers under simultaneous application of wind, operation, and seismic loads.” J. Perform. Constr. Facil. 30 (6): 04016043. https://doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)CF.1943-5509.0000898.
Stamatopoulos, G. N. 2013. “Response of a wind turbine subjected to near-fault excitation and comparison with the Greek Aseismic Standard provisions.” Soil Dyn. Earthquake Eng. 46: 77–84. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.soildyn.2012.12.014.
Treuren, K. 2015. “Small-scale wind turbine testing in wind tunnels under low Reynolds number conditions.” J. Energy Res. Technol. 137 (5): 051208. https://doi.org/10.1115/1.4030617.
Valamanesh, V., and A. T. Myers. 2014. “Aerodynamic damping and seismic response of horizontal axis wind turbine towers.” J. Struct. Eng. 140 (11): 04014090. https://doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)ST.1943-541X.0001018.
Wang, Z., Y. Zhao, F. Li, and J. Jiang. 2013. “Extreme dynamic responses of mw-level wind turbine tower in the strong typhoon considering wind-rain loads.” Math. Prob. Eng. 2013: 512530. https://doi.org/10.1155/2013/512530.
WWEA (World Wind Energy Association). 2018. “Wind power capacity reaches 539 GW, 52.6 GW added in 2017.” Accessed February 12, 2018. http://www.wwindea.org/2017-statistics/.
Yang, D., and W. Wang. 2012. “Nonlocal period parameters of frequency content characterization for near-fault ground motions.” Earthquake Eng. Struct. Dyn. 41 (13): 1793–1811. https://doi.org/10.1002/eqe.2157.
Zhang, Z., J. Li, and P. Zhuge. 2014. “Failure analysis of large-scale wind power structure under simulated typhoon.” Math. Prob. Eng. 2014: 1–10.https://doi.org/10.1155/2014/486524.
Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Copyright
©2019 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Mar 2, 2018
Accepted: Sep 24, 2018
Published online: Jan 31, 2019
Published in print: Apr 1, 2019
Discussion open until: Jun 30, 2019
Authors
Metrics & Citations
Metrics
Citations
Download citation
If you have the appropriate software installed, you can download article citation data to the citation manager of your choice. Simply select your manager software from the list below and click Download.