Wind Tunnel Test Research on the Aerodynamic Behavior of Concrete-Filled Double-Skin Steel (CFDST) Wind Turbine Towers

Abstract

To explore the potential application of concrete-filled double-skin steel tubular (CFDST) structures in wind turbine towers, this study carried out wind tunnel tests to explore the aerodynamic behavior of CFDST tower-based wind turbine systems. Two scaled models including traditional steel tower-based and CFDST tower-based wind turbine systems were designed and tested in the field of typhoons. Then, the vibration characteristics in both the downwind and crosswind directions were systematically investigated, in terms of acceleration and displacement response, motion trajectory, dynamic characteristics, etc. The findings demonstrate that CFDST structures can have significantly improved performance against both blade harmonic excitation and external environmental excitation. Compared to traditional steel towers, CFDST towers exhibit a substantial reduction in aerodynamic response. In particular, the reduction in the RMS value can be over five times in the resonance case and 457.69% in the non-resonance case. The CFDST towers predominantly exhibited converged motion trajectory and concentrated on lower vibration modes. The energy dissipation capability was remarkably enhanced, with the damping ratio increasing up to 40.98%. Overall, it was experimentally demonstrated that CFDST towers can efficiently address the dynamic problems of large-scale wind turbine towers in engineering.