Vibration Control of Steel Wind Turbine Tower Using a Novel Tuned Mass Damper Refitted via Inner Platform

Abstract

Steel large-megawatts wind turbines have the light-damping and long-period properties, resulting in the adverse vibrations under the wind loads. In this paper, a novel tuned mass damper refitted via inner platform (IP-TMD) is proposed to control the excessive vibration of steel wind turbine tower (WTT). Firstly, the dynamic equation of steel WTT controlled by the IP-TMD system is established according to the principle of virtual work, and its dynamic coefficient and frequency ratio at corresponding fixed points are deduced. Then, the optimal frequency ratio and optimal stiffness and damping coefficients are obtained by the system optimization. Furthermore, a numerical simulation research is employed to analyze the frequency-response curves and resonance mitigation effect of IP-TMD under harmonic excitation. Finally, the vibration control efficiency of IP-TMD is calculated using the Wilson-θ method under the wind loadings; the results indicated that IP-TMD is able to reduce the dynamic response of steel WTT over 45% compared with the uncontrolled WTT cases.