TY - JOUR
T1 - Influence of execution tolerances for friction connections in circular and polygonal towers for wind converters
AU - Heistermann, Christine
AU - Pavlović, Marko
AU - Veljković, Milan
AU - Pak, Daniel
AU - Feldmann, Markus
AU - Rebelo, Carlos
AU - da Silva, Luis Simões
PY - 2017
Y1 - 2017
N2 - Friction connections with long open slotted holes have been proven to be a competitive alternative to the conventional flange connections in steel tubular towers for wind energy converters. As full-scale tests are not available, results of Finite Element Analysis (FEA) of the real-scale tower geometry are used in this paper to investigate the influence of tower cross section shape, execution tolerance (gap between the shells) and length of the connection on the bending resistance. Buckling behaviour of the shell in the vicinity of the friction connection in circular and polygonal towers is compared. The friction connection is thoroughly examined and recommendations for execution tolerances are given. The influence of two types of the execution tolerances on the connection strength is considered: inward bended “fingers”, leading to inclined gaps, and a parallel gap created by different tower diameters.
AB - Friction connections with long open slotted holes have been proven to be a competitive alternative to the conventional flange connections in steel tubular towers for wind energy converters. As full-scale tests are not available, results of Finite Element Analysis (FEA) of the real-scale tower geometry are used in this paper to investigate the influence of tower cross section shape, execution tolerance (gap between the shells) and length of the connection on the bending resistance. Buckling behaviour of the shell in the vicinity of the friction connection in circular and polygonal towers is compared. The friction connection is thoroughly examined and recommendations for execution tolerances are given. The influence of two types of the execution tolerances on the connection strength is considered: inward bended “fingers”, leading to inclined gaps, and a parallel gap created by different tower diameters.
KW - Circular cross section
KW - Execution tolerance
KW - FEA
KW - Friction connection
KW - Long open slotted hole
KW - Polygonal cross section
KW - Steel tubular tower
KW - Wind energy converter
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85038076024&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://resolver.tudelft.nl/uuid:48faf36f-63de-425c-8508-4c5fe1987e6c
U2 - 10.18057/IJASC.2017.13.4.2
DO - 10.18057/IJASC.2017.13.4.2
M3 - Article
SN - 1816-112X
VL - 13
SP - 343
EP - 360
JO - Advanced Steel Construction
JF - Advanced Steel Construction
IS - 4
ER -