Dynamic analysis of different type of wind turbine towers under wind and earthquake effects

Abstract

Wind energy is one of the most economical and clean energy sources in the world. Investments in wind energy are getting increase. Besides, the construction of huge-sized wind turbine towers can result in high costs. The safety in terms of stress and displacement values are also significant for a selected type of turbine towers along with cost. In the design of a wind turbine, the dynamic loads such as wind and earthquake which influence on the tower are also significant. In this regard, dynamic analyses performed for the selection of a wind turbine tower type enable a convenient optimization. In this research, three different towers which have 10 m high were designed. These towers with calculated wind forces and, the recorded acceleration data of earthquakes took place in Chi-Chi, Düzce and Kobe were analyzed using ABAQUS software calculating based on finite element method. The results show that the highest tensile and displacement values were obtained from steel tower type. In terms of stress and displacement values, the most suitable tower type was the hybrid tower.