Abstract:
In this paper, the structural response of steel tubular wind turbine towers with various
design configuration is analyzed using FEM modeling. 50m tower with 3 different design
option as follows: i) tower without stiffener, ii) tower with horizontal stiffening ring, iii)
tower with vertical stiffener. The model of the towers are designed in SolidWorks. Von-
Mises stress and total deflection of the tower are analyzed to identify more efficient design
approach adopting internal stiffeners. Here we analyzed the mode shapes, natural
frequencies and harmonic response of von-mises stress and total deflection by using
ANSYS Workbench 14.5. The studied model ignored the mass of nacelle-rotor system and
the wind turbines, namely, only the isolated tower was included. Actually we validate an
existing paper where tower without stiffening ring and with stiffening ring are analyzed
and here another design option has been analyzed in which vertical stiffeners are used
instead of stiffener ring. Finally best design option will be selected based on strength of the
tower and vibration analysis
