Hi,
I had a small question. While reading the literature about the FEM analysis of wind turbine towers, I came across some problems. While applying the loads to a wind turbine tower, studies always consider the thrust force, the drag force acting on the tower at hub height, and the effects of gravity.
But in some studies, I have seen a formula for the pitching moment and torsional moment acting on a tower.
Should one include these in the analysis, and are there any standard formulas present to calculate these?
Also, what are other forces and moments to consider if the structural analysis of the tower is required? Any good, comprehensive sources? For context, the wind turbine I am modelling is 6 MW, which has a 150-meter tower and a maximum thrust of 800 kN (based on the manufacturer).
Dear @KanwarOsama.Zulfiqar,
I would say that it is common when designing towers for multi-megawatt wind turbines to compute the structural loads across a range of operational, fault, and idling in storm conditions using physics-based tools like OpenFAST that capture full aero-servo-elastic interaction. Such tools would capture all of the loads you describe, plus others, and can output the 6-component sectional loads (3 forces, 3 moments, including axial, bending, shear, and torsion) along the tower.
Best regards,