Linear Analysis of the Connector Performance for a Modular Double-Skinned Composite Tubular Wind Turbine Tower

The current trend of increasing wind turbine capacities requires bigger and higher wind turbine tower. A modular double-skinned composite tubular (DSCT) wind turbine tower was suggested to replace existing steel tower. For the connection area, three types of connectors for a modular DSCT wind turbine tower were proposed and experimentally tested. The proposed three types were a socket type connector, an H-type connector, and a bolted-welded with shear key connector. In this study, the performance of the connectors numerically analyzed by using ABAQUS and the results between the experiments and the analyses in elastic range compared to investigate the behavior of the tested DSCTs. The results of the analyses showed similar trends as seen in the experimental results. The case of using socket type connector (SP-S) and the case of using H-type connector (SP-H) could not transferred the applied load effectively to the lower module by the yielding failure of the connecting plates. However, the case of using a bolted-welded with shear key connector (SP-W) performed comparably well as the single-body DSCT with 98.5% of maximum strength and the similar maximum displacement. Therefore, the connector, which resisted its tensile strength such as SP-W, can be proposed as the connection for modular wind turbine tower.