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Welded Connections of Wind Turbine Towers under Fatigue Loading: Finite

Element Analysis and Comparative Study

Article · April 2015

DOI: 10.3844/ajeassp.2015.489.503

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 American Journal of Engineering and Applied Sciences

Original Research Paper

Welded Connections of Wind Turbine Towers under Fatigue

Loading: Finite Element Analysis and Comparative Study
1
Nafsika Stavridou, 1Evangelos Efthymiou and 1,2Charalampos C. Baniotopoulos
1
Department Civil Engineering, Institute of Metal Structures, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Thessaloniki, Greece
2
School of Civil Engineering, University of Birmingham, Birmingham B15 2TT, United Kingdom

Article history Abstract: Increased contemporary energy needs have led to multiple
Received: 15-07-2015 investments on wind power plants and structural improvements are
Revised: 28-07-2015 considered necessary for the construction of taller, more robust and more
Accepted: 28-07-2015 economical structures. Tubular steel wind turbine towers that are the
prevailing structural configuration, demand welding of circular subparts to
Corresponding Author: construct the tower structure. These circumferential welds between tower
Nafsika Stavridou
subparts and between the tower and the connecting flanges are proved to be
Department Civil Engineering,
prone to fatigue failure, since cracks are observed in these areas of already
Institute of Metal Structures,
Aristotle University of
constructed wind towers. The aim of the present work is to enlighten weld
Thessaloniki, Thessaloniki, Greece design procedures of wind turbine tower welds using damage accumulation
Email: [email protected] methods. For the purposes of the comparative study, two towers of same
height differing in shell thickness distribution are taken into account. The
towers are compared numerically and analytically following two methods
of calculating fatigue loads for structures; the first is an analytical method
proposed in design codes and the second is by using artificial loading
histories produced by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory software.
In both methods, shell thickness is proved to be a decisive factor for the
fatigue life of the structure and it is often a challenge to design an economic
structure with sufficient fatigue life. From the comparison of the tower’s welds
fatigue life, useful outcomes have been found on the precision of the methods
compared and the relation of fatigue life and material used for construction.

Keywords: Wind Turbine Tower, Numerical Analysis, Welded

Connections Fatigue Life, Artificial Loading History

Introduction governing loads when analyzing the structure against

survival aerodynamic conditions are the bending moment
The challenge of constantly constructing taller wind and lateral loading deriving from the rotor’s function.
turbine towers imposes the analytical and detailed Dimopoulos and Gantes (2012) focused on the assessment
structural design of such structures. The investigation of of the bending capacity of wind turbine towers comparing
horizontal axis tubular steel wind turbine towers structural experimental and numerical results and achieving very
behavior has been the aim of on the finite element good agreement between the two. In their study it is
simulation of the structures the work performed by proved that in unstiffened shell structures initial
Bazeos et al. (2002). Refined finite element and imperfections affect their post-buckling behavior.
simplified models have been analyzed and compared, Valuable conclusions on their structural response have
highlighting the necessity of detailed finite element been derived from the post-collapse analysis of structures
analyses for the accurate prediction of buckling loads like the work of Lee and Bang (2013), which focused on
and the calculation of stresses in special locations. the simulation of structural failure that led to a collapse of
Lavassas et al. (2003) after performing the analysis and a wind turbine tower in Korea. Comments on the finite
design of a prototype wind turbine tower concluded also element simulation of the structures are made and lessons
that detailed finite element analysis is appropriate for the learnt from existing structures are introduced in
determination of the ultimate capacity of the structure. In contemporary structural guidelines.
their work it is mentioned that the dynamic characteristics Structural analysis guidelines have been incorporated
of the structure, play a vital role for its fatigue design. The in design codes and there are constantly taller towers

© 2015 Nafsika Stavridou, Evangelos Efthymiou and Charalampos C. Baniotopoulos. This open access article is distributed
under a Creative Commons Attribution (CC-BY) 3.0 license.
Nafsika Stavridou et al. / American Journal of Engineering and Applied Sciences 2015, 8 (4): 489.503
DOI: 10.3844/ajeassp.2015.489.503

constructed aiming to cover the increasing energy needs.

Despite recent advances integrated in structural codes,
wind turbine accidents, failures or even total collapses
continue to happen, due to either extreme weather
conditions or structural failures, often resulting in great
economical losses. In accident reports published by
Ragheb (2013) and Raftery (2012) there are variable
types of failures that potentially lead to total
catastrophes, like blade failures, rotor failures and
structural failures. The general term of structural failure
implies local buckling failures due to incorrect shell
design, fatigue cracks on welds, foundation cracking due
to fatigue, corrosion of foundation bolts, residual stresses
of internal welds etc. One of the most important reasons
of structural failure observed in wind turbine towers is Fig. 1. Welds’ positioning on wind turbine towers
fatigue failure of welds (Khatri, 2009), which has also
recently led to the total collapse of a large wind turbine
tower due to fatigue failure of circumferential welded
joints (Bild, 2014). In common tower finite element
models the structures are simulated as full structures
and there is no additional detail added in numerical
models, which after recent accidents due to welding
failure has to be reconsidered.
The circumferential and longitudinal welds shown
in Fig. 1 are realized in order to connect subsequent
tower subsections.
Tubular steel wind turbine towers are usually
constructed by connecting tubular sections of about 20-
30 m long on site by means of bolted flanges with the Fig. 2. Longitudinal and circumferential weld detail
use of pretensioned bolts. These subsections are
manufactured in the factory by rolling steel plates, of
about 2.5 m wide, into a slightly tapered circular
shape and welding them with a seam lengthwise to
constitute a closed ring. The rings are connected with
a circumferential welding seam to constitute a tower
subpart, as it can be observed in Fig. 1 and its
structural detail is depicted in Fig. 2.
The tower subparts of about 20 m long are welded at
their edge to a circular flange of greater thickness than
the tower shell as it can be observed at Fig. 3 later in the
present document.
The concept of constructing a tower carrying great
dead loads at elevated heights that are also moving
gathers great bending moments at the bottom of the
cantilever that are falling off towards the top of the
tower. This load distribution along with the need for
minimizing material consumption necessitates the
construction of the tower as a truncated cone with Fig. 3. Structural details investigated
cross-section diameters and shell thicknesses
increasing from top to bottom. The truncated cone is Failures and cracking of welded joints have led
constructed by welding consequent circular steel rings Lacalle et al. (2011) to probe the causes of such damages
and the design of this connection type is important to in wind turbine towers. According to the same work,
be realized with focus on its response towards fatigue fatigue loading and inadequate weld design is very often
as accident reports’ statistics highlight the importance the reason of remarkable stress concentrations around the
of the fatigue assessment of welded joints. weld seams and assiduous analyzes using different
Indicatively, 12% of the overall number of accidents methods have been performed in order to assess the
is attributed to structural failure and 6.8% is due to reliability of each methodology. In Nussbaumer et al.
material fatigue (Chou and Tu, 2011). (2011) design guidelines it is stated that discontinuities

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in the material and joint geometry, holes, bolts and welds Fatigue design has very strict requirements for welds
lead to concentration of stresses and possibly on fatigue and therefore all welds realized in wind turbine towers
problems. In discontinuities like thickness-transition are designed as full penetration butt welds of high
cross-sections, eccentricities cause an increase in quality (Stathopoulos and Baniotopoulos, 2007). Weld
residual stresses due to local bending. Lotsberg (2009) fatigue life is estimated with the use of damage
assesses the reliability of reduction factors proposed in accumulation methods. European Standard provisions
literature for fatigue design of butt welds after (EC, 2005a) determine the design resistance of a full
comparing analytical results with refined finite element penetration butt weld, when welding is performed
analyses. The fabrication of the welds can often according to applicability provisions, as the design
introduce material discontinuities, especially when resistance of the weaker of the parts connected.
connecting parts with great thicknesses, since defects Therefore, in wind turbine tower structural analysis,
with uncertain structural consequences can be provoked. macroscopic numerical models are used and the
Cicero et al. (2009) applied a methodology to assess the structure is simulated as a full sized tower with no
special modelling of welds.
structural integrity of wind turbine towers where lacks of
The present work aims to enlighten weld design
penetration defects were detected in circumferential
procedures of wind turbine tower circumferential welds,
welds. The relation of the structural integrity of through life cycle assessment, using damage
structures and the defects was discussed in the same accumulation methods. Two identical towers, whose
work and predictions of similar structures’ behavior can structural analysis has been addressed in the thesis of
be made. Another wind turbine tower structural detail Bzdawka (2011), are taken into account and their fatigue
that has to be taken care of is the bottom tower flange analysis is performed in the current paper. The towers
joint. The sharpness of the joint profile along with the differ in terms of shell thickness distribution along the
thickness difference of the two connecting elements is height, since the initial constructed tower was
proved numerically in the work of Lacalle et al. (2011) overdesigned and the objective of the Master Thesis was
to provoke stress concentrations and internal tower to optimize the shell thickness distribution in order to
cracking. The residual stresses developed in the welded minimize the amount of material used. The methods
connection between the lower tower part and the flange used in the present work calculate the damage
are calculated using welding temperature time histories accumulation at certain points. For the purposes of
and the influence of the geometry and fabrication of such assessing the fatigue life of welded joints in wind turbine
joints is assessed in the work of Jiang et al. (2010). As it towers, two types of welding details are investigated in
can be concluded from all the above mentioned scientific the present work and are shown in Fig. 3.
work, welded connections are vulnerable to fatigue The first is the circumferential weld connecting the
loading and special attention has to be drawn when tower shell to the circular flange, named as FLANGE
designing and constructing structures with many welded hereafter and the second is the circumferential weld
points. In order to limit the numerical investigation and connecting consequent tower rings in order to constitute
fatigue design of such joints, an alternative bolded friction a tower subpart, named as WELD hereafter. For the
investigation described finite element analysis of the
connection has been elaborated by Veljkovic et al. (2010),
towers is performed with the aid of the commercial
in order to replace the circumferential weld connecting
software ABAQUS (DS, 2012). The fatigue life of the
subsequent steel rings in wind turbine tower structures is calculated with the damage accumulation
construction. The fatigue results of the above mentioned method and more specifically the Palmgren-Miner
connection were satisfactory but since its assembly is rule. The loads for the fatigue assessment are obtained
rather complicated, there is field for improvement before following two methods. In the first method, the loads
this solution is applied in industry. are calculated from the analytical formula provided in
Unlike the bottom flange weld, circumferential Eurocode 1991-1-4 (EC, 2005b) for variant number of
welds of wind turbine towers are very rarely cycles of load recurrence. In the second method, time-
investigated against fatigue loading since industry often history loading data are used for the calculation of the
neglects their precise calculation and practices the towers’ fatigue life. Instead of experimental wind data
increase of the tower shell thickness in order to avoid that are very often used for the fatigue assessment,
the fatigue check. In steel wind tower fatigue analysis artificial wind time-histories produced by National
damage accumulation methods are used and it is often Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL, 2015) and
considered crucial to investigate all welds and bolts National Wind Technology Center (NTWC, 2015)
since structural details are proved to be more prone to software are used for the present investigation. The
fatigue. Since limited work has been devoted to the loading time histories are produced for different wind
investigation of circumferential butt welds connecting mean speeds by TurbSim (Kelley and Jonkman,
subsequent tower parts the present work focuses on the 2012), Aerodyn (Laino, 2013) and FAST (Jonkman,
investigation of the fatigue life of wind turbine towers 2005) software. The same software is used for the
depending on the assessment of circumferential welds. production of loading time histories that are employed

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for the fatigue assessment of bolted connections in the Materials and Methods
work of Thanasoulas et al. (2014). Stress spectra are
produced with the use of Rainflow cycle counting One of the methods that fatigue assessment can be
method. Comparative results of the implementation of performed is the damage accumulation method (EC,
the two methods on the tower models are discussed. 2003) and the calculation procedure is prescribed in
Useful conclusions have been derived from the Annex A of the same document. The loading events that
comparative study, on the determination of the tower are taken into account in the method are based on prior
shell thicknesses and on the effect of fatigue loading knowledge obtained from similar structures, in order to
towards the material amount used for the construction represent a credible upper bound of the expected loading
of the towers. Important remarks on the effect of that the structure is going to be subjected to.
fatigue loading of structures subjected to dynamic In the present scientific work two different methods
loading are stated. are followed, assessed and compared. The damage
accumulation calculation is the case in both methods, but
Fatigue Analysis loading is taken into account following different
methodologies. In Method A the stress histories at the
Fatigue Phenomenon structural details under investigation are obtained from
artificial loading time histories applied at the finite
The phenomenon when a material is weakened due to
element model. In Eurocode provisions (EC, 2003) it is
repeatedly applied loads, a fact that can be observed by prescribed that stress histories are determined from
the propagation of localized cracks at the region of stress measurements on similar structures or from dynamic
concentration, is called fatigue. This type of material calculations of the structural response. Since
damage is noted even when the nominal maximum stress experimental data are often difficult to obtain and they
amplitude is within the elastic range of the material and differ significantly even between seemingly similar
usually beyond the material ultimate tensile stress limit. structures, artificial loading has the advantage of being
The material is subjected to repeated loading and cheaper and comparably accurate for such structures. In
unloading, microscopic cracks begin to arise at the stress Method A a preliminary static analysis is conducted in
concentration areas, they propagate suddenly and the order to determine the structural details that the above
results of the phenomenon can be disastrous with mentioned fatigue assessment will take place. This
structures collapsing without prior notice. The process is preliminary investigation is a simple linear static
rather unpredictable, showing scatter even under analysis that is conducted separately on both towers
controlled conditions. In shell structures, discontinuities compared in the present study and the loads applied are
like shell thickness changes, holes, sharp edges, the operational loads provided from the nacelle
temperature, residual stresses, surface finishing, presence manufacturer. In more detail, the loading applied on the
of chemicals etc. along with the loading cycles play a tower finite element models consists of the loads that are
vital role when performing fatigue analysis. Wind considered more important for the fatigue assessment; a
turbine towers have to be reassured against the horizontal force and an overturning moment due to the
phenomenon since the stresses are repeatedly applied wind turbine operation. The structural details at which
and relaxed by the resonant motion of the structure due the fatigue life assessment is carried out are separately
to wind loading. The mother material of the tower very chosen for each tower as the point belonging to the
rarely suffers from fatigue failure, whereas details like circumferential weld connecting shell parts and a point
local connections, welds, bolts and shell thickness at the circumferential weld connecting the tower shell
variations are more vulnerable to developing failures with a flange, where the highest normal stress
related to fatigue loading and have to be addressed with concentration is observed. In this method, after the
special attention since they are crucial for the fatigue life points with the highest stress concentration are chosen
calculation of the global structure. The endurance of from the preliminary analysis for both towers under
wind turbine towers can be assessed by the calculation of investigation, loading time histories of different wind
the fatigue life of the structure. Fatigue life is defined as mean speeds are applied at the finite element model.
the number of stress cycles of a specified character that a The stress time-histories at the structural details of each
structural detail can sustain before failure occurs. The tower are obtained and they are the primary data on
damage of the structures is cumulative and the material which fatigue analysis is based. The rainflow cycle
does not recover when it is unloaded. Due to the cyclic counting method is chosen in order to convert the
loading, steel hardening occurs and the material becomes complex stress time histories into simple cyclic
brittle, often leading to cracks and sudden collapses of loadings or stress range spectra. The result of the
the structures themselves without prior large deformation rainflow counting method can be transformed into a
occurrence. For steel specifically, there is a theoretical spectrum of amplitudes of stress cycles in one year.
stress amplitude value, called endurance limit, below After the calculation of the amplitude spectrum, the
which the material will not fail independently of the linear damage accumulation method is used in order to
number of cycles it is loaded. calculate the fatigue life of the structure.

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In the second method used in the present work the spectrum, while in Method B it is the number of loads
load is not taken into account as artificial or real time for dynamic response that is assigned to each stress
history. The stress level at the relevant structural detail is percentage from Equation 1.
obtained from a linear static analysis with a percentage
of the load of the one with a return period of 50 years. Finite Element Analysis
This percentage of stress level is assigned a number of
load repetitions from the analytical Equation 1: In the present investigation, a comparative study of
the fatigue life calculation of two 76.15 m hub height
wind turbine towers is carried out. The tower height
∆S
= 0,7 × (log(N g )) 2 -17,4 × log ( N g ) +100 (1) and their shell thickness distribution are presented in
Sk Fig. 4. Tower-1 has been introduced and analyzed by
Veljkovic et al. (2006) and its structural behavior has
Where: been verified in the Thesis of Bzdawka (2011), while
∆S = The stress range (MPa) Tower-2 has been the attempt of the latter to reduce the
Sk = The stress due to a 50 years return period wind (MPa) material used for the tower construction, preserving the
Ng = The number of loads tower behavior to acceptable levels. Both of the towers
comply with certain restrictional transportation
The stress level Sk is calculated in the preliminary requirements concerning maximum top diameter and
analysis of the two towers. After having obtained the maximum tower part length. The maximum length of the
stress levels achieved for the assigned number of loads tower sections is usually governed by requirements to
and after having chosen the relevant structural detail allow for transportation while the upper limit for the
category from Eurocode Tables (EC, 2003) the loading outer diameter of land-based wind turbine towers is
cycles corresponding to the fatigue strength are obtained. usually governed by restrictions imposed by the
The loading cycles are calculated for each stress level, maximum clearance under highway bridges.
from Equation 2 and 3: The conventional maximum value for the top tower
diameter provided by the manufacturer is defined as 3.0
m m and the maximum bottom diameter is defined as 5.0 m
 ∆σ 
N i =  c  ⋅ 2 ⋅ 106 ,with m = 3 for N ≤ 5 ⋅ 106 (2) while the maximum length of a transported element is
 ∆σ i  usually around 25 m long and never exceeding 30m.
Following the above mentioned restrictions imposed by
 ∆σ 
m
the manufacturer and by design codes, the towers under
N i =  c  ⋅ 5 ⋅ 106 ,with m = 5 for 5 ⋅ 106 ≤ N ≤ 108 (3) investigation consist of subsections of 2.2 m height and
 ∆σ i  only the top section is set to 2 m in order to complete the
full tower length. The top diameter is 3.0 m and the
Where:
bottom one is 4.3 m. Both towers have been designed
∆σc = The fatigue strength at 2 million cycles (MPa)
under extreme wind conditions and additional criteria for
∆σi = The stress range due to a 50 years return period
shell thicknesses are investigated in order to minimize
wind (MPa)
the tower mass in the scientific work conducted by
Having defined the detail category (S-N curve) for the Bzdawka (2011).
details under investigation, the damage of the structures can Materials and Loads
be calculated by applying the linear damage accumulation
method, in practice called Palmgren-Miner rule. The The two towers under investigation are steel tubular
cumulated damage is given in Equation 4: wind turbine towers. The material of the towers is S355
and since in all the analyses the stress levels remain at
n
nEi the elastic range, no hardening is taken into account in
Dd = ∑ (4) the material law and a simple stable plateau is only used
i Ni
in case some elements enter plasticity.
As it has already been discussed, the static loads
Where: incorporated in the linear static preliminary analysis of
nEi = The number of cycles associated with the stress the towers are simple operational loads due to the
range γFf∆σi for band i in the factored spectrum function of the turbine and are provided by the
Ni = The endurance (in cycles) obtained from the manufacturers of the machinery. Since the rotor and
factored curve or from Equation 2 and 3 blades that the towers have to support are the same, the
loads applied are common and are: the horizontal force
The reciprocal value of the damage equals the of F = 75.5 kN and the horizontal axis moment of M =
approximated lifetime of the steel tower. In the case of 1091 kNm. The tower weight is not taken into account in
Method A, nEi is calculated from the annual stress the fatigue analysis.

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For the numerical analyses conducted in the frame of turbulence level B and according to Kaimal frequency
Method A, the loading time-histories are produced with spectrum, for mean wind speeds of 2, 6, 10, 14, 18 and
the aid of NREL and NTWC freeware; Turbsim, Fast 22 m/sec. The horizontal wind velocity time-histories are
and Aerodyn and for time and data saving reasons only presented in Fig. 5 for the above mentioned mean wind
the two major loading histories at the top of the tower speeds. The loading histories are applied at the tower hub
are taken into account. The time-histories correspond to height to a reference point eccentrically located simulating
variable mean wind speeds in order to cover all the the exact rotor position. This position is shifted horizontally
spectrum of operational winds. There are 6 time-histories +0.725 m from the axis of the tower and vertically +0.50 m
produced at the towers’ hub height for a wind of above the upper flange level (+76.15 m).

Fig. 4. Shell thickness distribution for Tower-1 and Tower-2

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Fig. 5. Horizontal wind velocity acting at the tower hub height for different values of wind mean speed

Results referring to normal operating conditions, so the first 10

seconds of the loading time histories are neglected in the
Method A (Time-History) Results analysis due to the presence of signal noise deriving
The basic parameter that has to be calculated in order from the launching of the machinery. The above
to perform the fatigue life assessment is the stress history presented stress range histograms refer to the annual
σzz at the structural details under consideration, deriving number of cycles for each stress level based on the
from the effect of the artificial time histories applied. number of cycles in the 10 min wind. In order to
The normal stresses of the tower shell are obtained from calculate the fatigue life of the towers, the stress range
numerical analyses of the two towers and the results for histograms of each wind mean speed have to be
the two structural details and for variant mean wind combined to constitute the annual stress range histogram.
speeds are presented in Fig. 6 and 8 for Tower-1 and in The annual number of cycles of the histogram derives
Fig. 7 and 9 for Tower-2. from the sum of the cycles of each 10 min wind
The stress histories at the preferred structural detail multiplied by the relevant probability of occurrence,
are evaluated by following the rainflow cycle counting multiplied by the number of 10 minute durations in one
method in order to determine the stress ranges and their year. According to IEC 61400-1 (IEC, 2005) the
number of cycles and the stress range spectra for both distribution of wind speeds over an extended period of
towers are presented in the following figures. In Fig. 10 time is given by the Rayleigh or the Weibull distribution.
and 12 the stress range histograms for detail WELD- In the present study the Rayleigh distribution is used in
Tower-1 and FLANGE-Tower-1 respectively are order to calculate the probability of occurrence of each
presented and in Fig. 11 and 13 the stress range stress level. The probability density function and the
histograms for detail WELD-Tower-2 and FLANGE- cumulative density function of the Rayleigh distribution
Tower-2 are presented. are presented in Fig. 14.
The stress range histograms are more useful than the Taking into account the probability of occurrence
stress histories because the latter are time-related and great calculated from the Rayleigh distribution and the annual
variability of frequencies and ranges are observed. The stress range histograms for each wind mean speed, the
complex stress time histories are converted to histograms annual stress range spectrum for each tower is calculated
of number of cycles and stress levels by converting the and presented in Fig. 15-18.
simple time history to simple cyclic loading and picking As it has already been explained in the introduction
the peaks for tensile and the valleys for compressive of the present work damage due to fatigue is
stresses through the rainflow method. This is realized by cumulative and the material does not recover when it is
applying the relevant code in matlab software. unloaded. For this damage calculation the assumption
The stress range spectra presented above associate of linear damage accumulation is taken into account
the stress ranges and the relevant number of cycles in and the Palmgren-Miner rule is followed. The linear
descending order. The stress level histograms of the damage accumulation scheme assumes that stress
structural details obtained from the preliminary analysis ranges, occurring ni times results in a partial damage
are produced for each one of the six wind speed time that is represented by a ratio ni/Ni where Ni is the
histories as shown in Fig. 10-13. The fatigue check is number of cycles to failure.

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Fig. 6. Tensile stress history of detail type WELD-Tower-1 for variable mean wind speeds

Fig. 7. Tensile stress history of detail type WELD-Tower-2 for variable mean wind speeds

Fig. 8. Tensile stress history of detail type FLANGE-Tower-1 for variable mean wind speeds

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Fig. 9. Tensile stress history of detail type FLANGE-Tower-2 for variable mean wind speeds

Fig. 10. Stress range histograms for detail WELD-Tower-1 for variable mean wind speeds

Fig. 11. Stress range histograms for detail WELD-Tower-2 for variable mean wind speeds

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Fig. 12. Stress range histograms for detail FLANGE-Tower-1 for variable mean wind speeds

Fig. 13. Stress range histograms for detail FLANGE-Tower-2 for variable mean wind speeds

Fig. 14. Rayleigh distribution functions

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Fig. 18. Annual stress range histogram for FLANGETower-2

Fig. 15. Annual stress range histogram for WELD-Tower-1
The failure of the detail is defined by the sum of all the
partial damages. The detail category that corresponds to
the circumferential weld between consequent tower
parts, according to EN 1993-1-9 (EC, 2003) has fatigue
stress capacity of ∆σc = 80 MPa, while the one that
corresponds to the circumferential weld between the
tower and the flange, according to the same document
has fatigue stress capacity of ∆σc = 40 MPa. The factored
capacity curve that corresponds to the first structural
detail is presented in Fig. 19 while the one that
corresponds to the latter, in Fig. 20.
The fatigue check of the structural details of the
two towers using Methodology A implies that the
cumulative damage D defined in Equation 4 should be
lower than the theoretical value of 1 when damage
occurs. The annual cumulative damage for Tower-1
when checking structural detail WELD is 0.0007 and
for Tower-2 is 0.0019. For structural detail FLANGE,
it is 0.0028 for Tower-1 and 0.0082 for Tower-2. The
Fig. 16. Annual stress range histogram for WELD-Tower-2 fatigue check criterion is fulfilled for both towers and
for all cases. For detail WELD, the fatigue life of the
first tower is over 1000 years while for Tower-2 with
smaller wall thicknesses falls about 500 years. This is
indicative of the fact that both towers are well
designed, since the fatigue criterion is fulfilled. With
a small reduction in shell thicknesses, the total mass
of the tower is reduced about 20%, while the fatigue
life is reduced by 50%. For detail FLANGE, the fatigue
life of Tower-1 is calculated to 350 years, while for
Tower-2 it is 120 years. Again the fatigue life of the
structure is reduced more than 50% with a material
reduction of 20%. This shows that the shell thickness is
a decisive factor for the fatigue life of the structure.
Method B (Dynamic Load) Results
The fatigue check of the structural details of the two
towers with Methodology B is also following the
Fig. 17. Annual stress range histogram for FLANGETower-1 damage accumulation criterion and only the way that the

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stresses at the structural details under consideration are cumulative damage for Tower-1 is 0.0006 and for
calculated changes. In this method only simplified Tower-2 is 0.0013. The fatigue check criterion is again
static analyses are conducted, since the loading of the fulfilled for both towers showing that they are well
structures is a single static load given by the designed. For structural detail FLANGE, the
manufacturer and the theoretical number of times cumulative damage for Tower-1 is 0.0045 while for
(cycles) of occurrence of each load is associated Tower-2 is 0.0082. The fact that cumulative damage is
through the analytical equation provided by Eurocode greater in structural detail FLANGE in both methods
(EC, 2005a). The number of cycles leading to fatigue is indicative that this weld type is more vulnerable to
failure is indicative of each structural detail and is failure and special attention needs to paid in the tower
common between the two methods as presented in Fig. design. The fatigue life of the towers is again
19 and 20. The partial damage is calculated for each calculated for the results of this methodology and is
stress range and all the partial damages are summed 2500 years for WELD-Tower-1 while for WELD-
again using the Palmgren-Miner rule. This calculation Tower-2 with smaller wall thicknesses falls to 700
is presented in Table 1 for structural detail WELD and years. The situation is similar to method A since
in Table 2 for structural detail FLANGE. When FLANGE-Tower-1 presents fatigue life of 220 years
assessing the structural detail WELD, the annual while FLANGE-Tower-2 120 years.

Fig. 19. Direct stress range over endurance for ∆σ = 80 MPa

Fig. 20. Direct stress range over endurance for ∆σ = 40 MPa

500
Nafsika Stavridou et al. / American Journal of Engineering and Applied Sciences 2015, 8 (4): 489.503
DOI: 10.3844/ajeassp.2015.489.503

Table 1. Damage accumulation calculation for Method B for structural detail WELD
Tower-1 Tower-2
---------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------------------
ni ∆S/Sk σi Νi ni/Ni σi Νi ni/Ni
1 100.00 22.16 6.19E+07 1.62E-08 28.03 3.06E+07 3.27E-08
5 88.18 19.54 9.02E+07 5.54E-08 24.72 4.46E+07 1.12E-07
10 83.30 18.46 1.07E+08 9.34E-08 23.35 5.29E+07 1.89E-07
50 72.46 16.06 1.63E+08 3.07E-07 20.31 8.03E+07 6.22E-07
100 68.00 15.07 1.97E+08 5.08E-07 19.06 9.72E+07 1.03E-06
500 58.14 12.88 3.15E+08 1.59E-06 16.30 1.56E+08 3.21E-06
103 54.10 11.99 3.91E+08 2.56E-06 15.17 1.93E+08 5.18E-06
5*103 45.22 10.02 6.69E+08 7.47E-06 12.68 3.31E+08 1.51E-05
104 41.60 9.22 8.59E+08 1.16E-05 11.66 4.24E+08 2.36E-05
5*104 33.69 7.47 1.62E+09 3.09E-05 9.45 7.99E+08 6.26E-05
105 30.50 6.76 2.18E+09 4.59E-05 8.55 1.08E+09 9.28E-05
5*105 23.57 5.22 4.72E+09 1.06E-04 6.61 2.33E+09 2.14E-04
106 20.80 4.61 6.88E+09 1.45E-04 5.83 3.40E+09 2.94E-04
5*106 14.85 3.29 1.89E+10 2.65E-04 4.16 9.33E+09 5.36E-04
107 12.50 2.77 2.00E+13 5.01E-07 3.50 6.17E+12 1.62E-06
5*107 7.53 1.67 2.52E+14 1.98E-07 2.11 7.77E+13 6.43E-07
108 5.60 1.24 1.11E+15 9.03E-08 1.57 3.42E+14 2.93E-07
Dd= 0.0006 Dd= 0.0013

Table 2. Damage accumulation calculation for Method B for structural detail FLANGE
Tower-1 Tower-2
---------------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------------------
ni ∆S/Sk σi Νi ni/Ni σi Νi ni/Ni
1 100.00 21.53 8.43E+06 1.19E-07 26.30 4.63E+06 2.16E-07
5 88.18 18.99 1.23E+07 4.07E-07 23.19 6.75E+06 7.41E-07
10 83.30 17.93 1.46E+07 6.85E-07 21.91 8.00E+06 1.25E-06
50 72.46 15.60 2.22E+07 2.26E-06 19.06 1.22E+07 4.11E-06
100 68.00 14.64 2.68E+07 3.73E-06 17.88 1.47E+07 6.80E-06
500 58.14 12.52 4.29E+07 1.17E-05 15.29 2.35E+07 2.12E-05
103 54.10 11.65 5.33E+07 1.88E-05 14.23 2.92E+07 3.42E-05
5*103 45.22 9.73 9.12E+07 5.48E-05 11.89 5.00E+07 9.99E-05
104 41.60 8.96 1.17E+08 8.54E-05 10.94 6.43E+07 1.56E-04
5*104 33.69 7.25 2.20E+08 2.27E-04 8.86 1.21E+08 4.13E-04
105 30.50 6.57 2.97E+08 3.36E-04 8.02 1.63E+08 6.13E-04
5*105 23.57 5.08 6.44E+08 7.77E-04 6.20 3.53E+08 1.42E-03
106 20.80 4.48 9.37E+08 1.07E-03 5.47 5.14E+08 1.95E-03
5*106 14.85 3.20 2.57E+09 1.94E-03 3.91 1.41E+09 3.54E-03
107 12.50 2.69 7.21E+11 1.39E-05 3.29 2.65E+11 3.77E-05
5*107 7.53 1.62 9.09E+12 5.50E-06 1.98 3.34E+12 1.50E-05
108 5.60 1.21 4.00E+13 2.50E-06 1.47 1.47E+13 6.81E-06
Dd= 0.0045 Dd= 0.0083
a. ni is the theoretical number of cycles associated with the stress level, ∆S/Sk load and stress percentage of the effect due to wind with 50
years return period, σi is the stress at the structural detail under consideration, Νi is the number of cycles leading to fatigue failure

Again the fatigue check is fulfilled with this Conclusion

methodology and an overestimation of the fatigue life
of the towers is observed. In this methodology a great The present study evaluates the effect of shell
sensitivity regarding the shell thickness is observed thickness reduction on the fatigue life calculation of
since the reduction in shell thicknesses between the steel tubular wind turbine towers. The evaluation is
towers is about 20%, while their fatigue life differs conducted following two different procedures, one
about 70% regarding the WELD detail and 55% with detailed time-history loading and one with stress
regarding FLANGE detail. evaluation through analytical equation. The analysis

501
Nafsika Stavridou et al. / American Journal of Engineering and Applied Sciences 2015, 8 (4): 489.503
DOI: 10.3844/ajeassp.2015.489.503

methodology a which uses more detailed loading Ethics

histories, assesses the welded connections in a more
accurate way compared to conventional static loading The authors confirm that this article is original and
contains previously unpublished material. The
analyses that are widely used and require
corresponding author verifies that other authors have
simplification assumptions. The detailed analysis
read and approved the manuscript and no ethical
shows lower values of fatigue life for both towers
issues are violated.
compared to the more conservative and conventional
Method B that calculates stress ranges based on
Eurocode analytical equations. In both analyses
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