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Experimental Investigation and On—Site Measurement of Reverse—Balanced Flange Connections in Wind Turbine Towers

Experimental Investigation and On—Site Measurement of Reverse—Balanced Flange Connections in Wind... This paper presents an experimental study and on-site measurements for a reverse-balanced flange connection. This kind of flange connection is proposed for the installation of tubular wind turbine towers that are manufactured in steel shell segments. The specific configuration for the reverse-balanced flange connection is the reversed stiffening plates with balanced surfaces. Monotonic loading tests were conducted to investigate the moment resisting capacity and stiffness of this kind of flange connection. It was found that, when designed for the same load conditions, the reverse-balanced flange connection had higher moment resisting capacity and stiffness than the conventional bolted flange connection. Failure in the reverse-balanced flange connections was not observed before local buckling failure of the steel shell. The fatigue stress ranges in the high-strength bolts of the reverse-balanced flange connection were also evaluated based on the data from on-site measurements. The stress range was found to be much lower in the bolts from the reverse-balanced flange connection than that of the bolts from the conventional bolted flange connection. The test and on-site measurement results in this study can serve as technical basis and verification in support of greater application of reverse-balanced flange connections in wind turbine towers. http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Advances in Structural Engineering SAGE

Experimental Investigation and On—Site Measurement of Reverse—Balanced Flange Connections in Wind Turbine Towers

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References (19)

Publisher
SAGE
Copyright
© 2015 SAGE Publications
ISSN
1369-4332
eISSN
2048-4011
DOI
10.1260/1369-4332.18.8.1215
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

This paper presents an experimental study and on-site measurements for a reverse-balanced flange connection. This kind of flange connection is proposed for the installation of tubular wind turbine towers that are manufactured in steel shell segments. The specific configuration for the reverse-balanced flange connection is the reversed stiffening plates with balanced surfaces. Monotonic loading tests were conducted to investigate the moment resisting capacity and stiffness of this kind of flange connection. It was found that, when designed for the same load conditions, the reverse-balanced flange connection had higher moment resisting capacity and stiffness than the conventional bolted flange connection. Failure in the reverse-balanced flange connections was not observed before local buckling failure of the steel shell. The fatigue stress ranges in the high-strength bolts of the reverse-balanced flange connection were also evaluated based on the data from on-site measurements. The stress range was found to be much lower in the bolts from the reverse-balanced flange connection than that of the bolts from the conventional bolted flange connection. The test and on-site measurement results in this study can serve as technical basis and verification in support of greater application of reverse-balanced flange connections in wind turbine towers.

Journal

Advances in Structural EngineeringSAGE

Published: Aug 1, 2015

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