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Fatigue Life Prediction for Flange Connecting Bolts of Wind Turbine Tower

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Abstract

Flange joint part is the weak link of wind turbine tower. In view of the special structure, complex stress and easy failure of the connecting bolt of the wind turbine tower flange, the relationship between the external load of the tower section and the internal stress of the bolt is established by the finite element method, and the time series internal stress of the bolt is calculated by the Schmidt-Neuper algorithm. The S-N curve which is suitable for the connecting bolt material of the tower flange is selected by the GL2010 specification. On the basis of Miner’s fatigue cumulative damage theory and rain flow counting method, the fatigue strength of the whole ring bolt is roughly calculated, and the most dangerous part is determined. The axial symmetry model of screw connection is used for accurately calculating the fatigue cumulative damage of the bolt at the dangerous part. The results show that the fatigue life of the bolts in the most dangerous position can meet the requirements, the engineering algorithm has advantages in determining the dangerous part of the whole ring bolt, and the finite element method has high accuracy in predicting the fatigue life of the bolts in the dangerous part. The proposed method is feasible and effective in predicting the fatigue life of the flange joint bolts of the tower.

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Correspondence to Pengwen Sun  (孙鹏文).

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Foundation item: the Special Research Fund for the Natural Science Foundation of Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region (No. 2019MS05070)

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Yu, Z., Sun, P. & Wang, D. Fatigue Life Prediction for Flange Connecting Bolts of Wind Turbine Tower. J. Shanghai Jiaotong Univ. (Sci.) 25, 526–530 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12204-020-2173-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12204-020-2173-4

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