1. Experimental and analytical investigation of stiffened steel tubes for wind turbine towers under compression-bending load.
- Author
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Ren, Wei, Zhou, Xu-Hong, Deng, Ran, Wang, Yu-Hang, and Cao, Yun-Qi
- Subjects
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STEEL tubes , *WIND turbines , *ULTIMATE strength , *FINITE element method , *UTILITY poles , *STRUCTURAL steel - Abstract
Steel tubes with large diameter-thickness ratios are widely used in tubular steel towers of wind turbines. These steel tubes are susceptible to local buckling under compression-bending load, thus leading to a failure of the overall structures. In this paper, a new structural form of steel tubes with longitudinal stiffeners was proposed. Six specimens were tested to study the effects of stiffeners forms and diameter-thickness ratios of steel tubes. Finite element models were compared and validated by test results and used to further study the structural mechanisms. Lastly, the ultimate strength of specimens was evaluated by existing design guidelines preliminarily. According to the results, by setting stiffeners, especially the T-type stiffeners under the same consumption of the steel, the local buckling was prevented and the plastic deformability of the steel tubes was increased, resulting in the great enhancement of ultimate strength and ductility. The limits of quantity and width-thickness ratio of stiffeners to obtain a more stable and significant improvement effect were suggested through parametric analysis. The current methods agree well with the test results of unstiffened steel tubes but might be inaccurate for stiffened steel tubes. • Six specimens with different stiffener types and diameter-thickness ratios were tested under compression-bending load. • The finite element models were compared and validated by test results and used to further study the structural mechanisms. • The effects of stiffeners on the compression-bending behavior of steel tubes were revealed. • The limits of quantity and width-thickness ratio of stiffeners to obtain a significant effect were suggested. • The applicability and accuracy of the calculating methods in existing design guidelines were preliminarily evaluated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2022
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