Geometrical effects on the LJF of tubular T/Y-joints with doubler plate in offshore wind turbines

Abstract

ABSTRACT In this study, the Local Joint Flexibility (LJF) of tubular T/Y-joints with doubler plate under in-plane bending (IPB) load is investigated. In the first step, a finite element (FE) model was developed and verified using the available experimental results. In the next step, 252 FE models were generated to investigate the effect of the joint geometry on the LJF factor (f LJF). Results showed that the increase of the doubler plate size results in the considerable decrease of the f LJF. Also, the f LJF of a T/Y-joint reinforced with doubler plate can be down to 26% of the f LJF of the corresponding unreinforced joint. Despite the considerable effect of the doubler plate on the f LJF, there is not any study on the f LJF of the tubular joints with doubler plate. Hence, after a parametric study, FE results were used to propose a parametric formula for determining the f LJF.