Reduction of computational cost for design of wind turbine tower against fatigue failure

In this paper, fatigue analysis of a steel tubular wind turbine tower is presented. This research clarifies the extent of contribution from each design load case on the total damage (aggregate of damages induced by fatigue design load cases) experienced by the tower during its life time. Contribution of the normal and shear stresses on the total damage are also distinguished. Fatigue analysis of a wind turbine tower is onerous since it requires taking the impact of many different load cases and contribution of normal and shear stresses into account. This paper singles out the most contributing load cases and stresses in fatigue analysis and therefore can be applied to reduce the relevant computational cost significantly

Keywords:

Wind turbine , Tubular steel tower , Fatigue analysis , Computational cost