# Frontiers of Mechanical Engineering

 Front. Mech. Eng.    2019, Vol. 14 Issue (3) : 342-350     https://doi.org/10.1007/s11465-019-0524-3
 RESEARCH ARTICLE
Nonlinear dynamics of a wind turbine tower
A. GESUALDO1, A. IANNUZZO1, F. PENTA2, M. MONACO3()
1. Department of Structures for Engineering and Architecture, University of Naples “Federico II”, 80125 Naples, Italy
2. Department of Industrial Engineering, University of Naples “Federico II”, 80125 Naples, Italy
3. Department of Architecture and Industrial Design, University of Campania “Luigi Vanvitelli”, 81031 Aversa (Ce), Italy
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 Abstract The recent proliferation of wind turbines has revealed problems in their vulnerability under different site conditions, as evidenced by recent collapses of wind towers after severe actions. Analyses of structures subjected to variable actions can be conducted through several methods with different accuracy levels. Nonlinear dynamics is the most reliable among such methods. This study develops a numerical procedure to obtain approximate solutions for rigid-plastic responses of structures subjected to base harmonic pulses. The procedure’s model is applied to a wind turbine tower subjected to inertial forces generated by harmonic ground acceleration, and failure is assumed to depend on the formation of shear hinges. The proposed approach provides an efficient representation of the post-elastic behavior of the structure, has a low computational cost and high effectiveness, and uses a limited number of mechanical parameters. Corresponding Authors: M. MONACO Online First Date: 02 November 2018    Issue Date: 24 July 2019
 Cite this article: A. GESUALDO,A. IANNUZZO,F. PENTA, et al. Nonlinear dynamics of a wind turbine tower[J]. Front. Mech. Eng., 2019, 14(3): 342-350. URL: http://journal.hep.com.cn/fme/EN/10.1007/s11465-019-0524-3 http://journal.hep.com.cn/fme/EN/Y2019/V14/I3/342
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 Fig.1  Elastic-perfectly plastic body Fig.2  (a) Wind turbine tower geometry; (b) Rigid-plastic constitutive law; (c) shear strain representation Fig.3  Time histories of the plastic shear strain rate at the base (left) and at 13 m hinge level (right) for amplitude $a0=0.3g$ (with g gravity acceleration) and $f =ω2 π=0.4775$ Hz with $ω =3$ s?2 Fig.4  Time histories of the displacement at the plastic hinge levels (left) and at the top of the tower (right) for amplitude $a0=0.3g$ and $f =ω2 π=0.4775$ Hz with $ω =3$ s?2 Fig.5  Variation of the maximum and minimum displacements versus the base motion acceleration’s amplitude corresponding to different frequencies Fig.6  Variation of the plastic hinge position versus amplitude at two different frequencies