Chapter 248 - Optimum Configuration of a Small-Medium-Scale Wind Turbine Towers based on its Dynamic Characteristics

Abstract

This chapter discusses that optimum Configuration of a Small or Medium-Scale Wind Turbine Towers based on its Dynamic Characteristics. While the recent activities to introduce wind power generation systems are getting popular, the accidents caused by the vibration are reported to be increasing especially for the small or medium-scale wind turbine towers. The product used for finite element analyses is COSMOS/M with optimization module OPTSTAR. To calculate the frequency for wire supported tower, the module for nonlinear analysis ASTAR is also necessary. In this chapter, stepped cylindrical mono-pole towers and wire supported straight mono-pole tower typical for the horizontal axis small or medium-scale wind turbine systems are selected to study their optimal shapes and configurations. Moreover, the safety operation range is defined as the interval between the natural frequencies for the first and the second modes, and finally, the purpose is to raise the natural frequency for second mode for a given constraint conditions changing the design parameters.