Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Structural Failures
of Wind Towers
AMERICAN WIND ENERGY ASSOCIATION
May 2009
1980s 1990s:
Wind Towers <
40m Truss
Structures
Turbine Sizes
250 kW 500
kW
Wind Towers 1980s 2002
Structural Tubular
Failures:
E-stop load condition
Overspeed of the
rotor
Foundation Failures
Foundation Design Issues
Overturning moment
Soil failure
Dynamic stiffness
Fatigue causing cracks in concrete
Rotational stiffness degradation
Soil-structure interaction
Structural Failure/Collapse of
Wind Towers
Tower-Foundation
Models capture the full
frequency behavior
Soil-structure
interaction analysis
allows for the
foundation to be
included with the soil
strata
Finite Element Analysis
Tower-Foundation
Models capture
the full frequency
behavior
Soil-structure
interaction
analysis allows for
the foundation to
be included with
the soil strata
FLAC3D 3.10
Center: Rotation:
X: 0.000e+000 X: 360.000
Y: 4.500e+000 Y: 0.000
Z: -9.000e+000 Z: 0.000
Dist: 1.040e+002 Mag.: 1
Ang.: 22.500
interaction
SEL Geometry analysis
Magfac = 0.000e+000
to model micropiles
with a concrete cap FLAC3D 3.10
2006 Itasca Consulting Group, Inc.
Step 13873 Model Perspective
08:37:28 Wed Apr 01 2009
Overturning Center:
X: 7.417e+000
Rotation:
X: 40.000
FLAC3D 3.10
2006 Itasca Consulting Group, Inc.
Step 52462 Model Perspective
Y: 1.749e+000 Y: 0.000 16:44:24 Wed Apr 08 2009
Moment analysis
Z: -5.829e+000
Dist: 1.040e+002
Z: 40.000
Mag.: 1.25
Ang.: 22.500
Center:
X: 0.000e+000
Y: 7.290e+000
Z: -4.300e+000
Rotation:
X: 360.000
Y: 0.000
Z: 0.000
Dist: 1.040e+002 Mag.: 3.05
Block Group
Uplift capacity
Ang.: 22.500
Live mech zones shown
cap Contour of Z-Displacement
soil Magfac = 0.000e+000
Live mech zones shown
SEL Geometry
Itasca Consulting Group, Inc. -8.6132e-003 to -8.0000e-003
Post-Tension
-8.0000e-003 to -7.0000e-003
Magfac = 0.000e+000 -7.0000e-003 to -6.0000e-003
Minneapolis, MN USA -6.0000e-003 to -5.0000e-003
-5.0000e-003 to -4.0000e-003
-4.0000e-003 to -3.0000e-003
-3.0000e-003 to -2.0000e-003
Effects
-2.0000e-003 to -1.0000e-003
-1.0000e-003 to 0.0000e+000
0.0000e+000 to 1.0000e-003
1.0000e-003 to 1.2111e-003
Interval = 1.0e-003
SEL Geometry
Magfac = 0.000e+000
Sketch
Itasca Consulting Group, Inc.
Minneapolis, MN USA
Itasca Consulting Group, Inc.
Minneapolis, MN USA
Yaw Plate Analysis
Over-speed condition
E-stop loading
Fatigue cracking in the tower shell
Foundation rotation due to overturning
moment, soil creep, soil fatigue, or combination
of soil-foundation stiffness degradation
Structural Failure of Wind Towers
Tower buckling
Blade separation
Eccentric loading due to offset between CG
and geometric center of tower nacelle (i.e.,
built in eccentric loading)
Improving Structural Design Methods