Design and behavior of 160 m-tall post-tensioned precast concrete-steel hybrid wind turbine tower

Xiangguo Wu, Xuesen Zhang, Qingtan Zhang, Dong Zhang, Xiaojing Yang, Faqiang Qiu, Suhyun Park and Thomas H.-K. Kang

Abstract

Prefabricated hybrid wind turbine towers (WTTs) are promising due to height increase. This study proposes the use of ultra-high performance concrete (UHPC) to develop a new type of WTT without the need to use reinforcement. It is demonstrated that the UHPC WTT structure without reinforcing bars could achieve performance similar to that of reinforced concrete WTTs. To simplify the design of WTT, a design approach for the calculation of stresses at the horizontal joints of a WTT is proposed. The stress distribution near the region of the horizontal joint of the WTT structure under normal operating conditions and different load actions is studied using the proposed approach, which is validated by the finite element method. A further parametric study shows that the degree of prestressing and the bending moment both significantly affect the principal stress. The shear-to-torsion ratio also shows a significant influence on the principal tensile stress.

Key Words

design; finite element; hybrid; post-tensioned; precast concrete; stress; UHPC; wind turbine towers

Address

Xiangguo Wu:1)College of Civil Engineering, Fuzhou University, Fuzhou 350108, China 2)Key Lab of Structures Dynamic Behavior and Control of the Ministry of Education, Key Lab of Smart Prevention and Mitigation of Civil Engineering Disasters of the Ministry of the Industry and Information Technology, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin 150090, China Xuesen Zhang:CGN New Holdings Co., Ltd, Beijing 100070, China Qingtan Zhang:Key Lab of Structures Dynamic Behavior and Control of the Ministry of Education, Key Lab of Smart Prevention and Mitigation of Civil Engineering Disasters of the Ministry of the Industry and Information Technology, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin 150090, China Dong Zhang:College of Civil Engineering, Fuzhou University, Fuzhou 350108, China Xiaojing Yang:College of Civil Engineering, Fuzhou University, Fuzhou 350108, China Faqiang Qiu:JianYan Test Group Co., Ltd, Xiamen, Fujian 361004, China Suhyun Park:Department of Architecture & Architectural Engineering, Seoul National Univ., Seoul 08826, Korea Thomas H.-K. Kang:Department of Architecture & Architectural Engineering, Seoul National Univ., Seoul 08826, Korea

← Back to Volume 44, No. 3