InternationalJournalofEnergyScience(IJES)Volume3Issue3,June2013
org
NaturalCharacteristicsResearchofMWWind
TurbineTower
PingZHAO*1,YuguoLIANG*1,YongshengWANG*1,XiaoguangLi*1,2,XingmeiLV*1
*1 CSRZhuzhouElectricLocomotiveResearchInstituteCompanyLimited,Zhuzhou,Hunan,China
*2 CollegeofMechanicalandElectricalEngineeringofCentralSouthUniversity,ChangshaHunan,China
1zhaoping@csrzic.com;3wangys1@csrzic.com;4lixg@csrzic.com;5lvxm@csrzic.com
Abstract
Thenaturalcharacteristicscalculationmodalofthefirststep
bending and torsional vibration was established based on
RayleighmethodforMWwindturbinetower.Theinfluence
of the diameter, thickness, taper angle, nacelle and rotor
mass, offset of mass on the inherent characteristic of tower
wasstudied.Finiteelementmethod(FEM)wasalsousedto
calculate the inherent characteristic of tower and the FEM
results showed good agreement with Rayleigh method
results. Finally, the influence of dimension and position of
the door on the basic frequency was investigated by means
ofFEM.
Keywords
Mw Wind Turbine; Tower; Natural Characteristics; Rayleigh
Method;Fem
Introduction
MWwindturbinetowerisusedtosupporttheweight
of mechanical and electrical components and bear the
force due to the wind. It is necessary to analyze the
inherentcharacteristicoftowertoavoidtheresonance
area because of the periodicity excitation force from
therotationofrotor.
At present, there are several methods to study the
inherent characteristic of tower, such as analytical
method (analytical dynamics and multibody
dynamics), FEM and experiment method. Natural
characteristics of the first step bending vibration has
been solved for smallscale wind turbine tower with
Rayleigh method, though the results showed good
agreement with FEM and experiment, the natural
characteristicsoftorsionalvibrationwasneglectedand
the model was simplified. The low order natural
frequency of MW wind turbine tower was computed
and the influence of nacelle mass on tower natural
characteristicswasstudiedwithFEM,buttherewasno
discussion on the influence of mass central position
and other factors. The influence of the diameter,
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thickness, top mass on the tower natural frequency
was researched based on FEM, however, the analysis
project was too limited to describe the relationships
accurately. The tower natural frequency was obtained
from experiment, so the FEM result was validated. In
thispaper,RayleighmethodaswellasFEMwasused
to study the natural characteristics of tower based on
previous research work, and the analysis conclusion
willbefavourabletothedesignoftower.
Natural Characteristics Study of Tower with
Rayleigh Method
The frequency of bending and torsional vibration has
been greatly considered for the tower natural
characteristics research, and the key factor of the
structural response is the lower frequency. Therefore,
only the first step natural frequency of bending and
torsional vibration was taken into account to research
the tower natural characteristics under the aid of
Rayleighmethod.
AnalyzingModelforTower
The MW wind turbine tower is usually designed as a
taper cylinder structure, in which the top is joined to
the yaw system, while the bottom is fixed with the
foundation. The tower consists of several short taper
cylinderswithflange,whosethicknessvarieswiththe
height, and there is a door serving as inlet at the
bottom. The tower approximately regarded as a
nonuniformsectionbeamhaslumpedmass(replaced
by M), as well as the moment of inertia (replaced
by J NB )atoneendandisfixedattheotherend.
The 3section tower is divided into three different
uniformsectionsbeams,thestiffnesscanbecalculated
basedonequivalentstiffnessmethodrespectively,and
the eccentricity between top centroid and centre of
beamcanberegardedasvariable l ,whichisshown
in Figure1. M is the whole mass of all the structures
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except tower and J NB is the moment of inertia of Mechanical Modal for Tower Based on Rayleigh
nacelleandrotor. Method

Rayleighmethod,anappropriatemethodtoobtainthe
naturalfrequencybasedonthelawoftheconservation
of mechanical energy, is used to calculate the
approximatesolutionofnaturalfrequencyfortowerin
this paper. Firstly, vibration function matching
boundary condition should be given to seek for the
natural frequency of bending vibration. The vibration
function C is supposed as the calculation function in
this paper, and the static deflection can be calculated
with function: Yx x 3 L3 , where x is height, Yx is
the static deflection corresponding to x, and is the
amplitudeofbending.Thetowerhasthreesections,in
which the stiffness and the mass of unit length are
different from each other. Therefore the maximal
FIG.1ANALYZINGMODALFORTOWER
bendingpotentialenergyofbeamsiscalculatedas:

1 L1
2 2 2
d 2Y L2 d 2Y L d 2Y (1)
U max EI 1 dx EI 2 dx EI 3 dx
2 0 dx
2
L1
dx
2
L2
dx
2

Where E is elastic modulus, I1 , I 2 , I 3 are the moment Andthemaximalbendingkineticenergyofthebeams

inertia of cross section for each beam, respectively. iscalculatedas:

b 2 L1 L2 L


Tmax A1Y( x ) 2 dx A2Y( x ) 2 dx A3Y( x ) 2 dx mY( L 2
(2)
2 0 L1 L2 m)

Whereisdensityofmaterial, A1 , A2 , A3 aretheareaof natural frequency of bending vibration can be

crosssectionforeachbeam,respectively.Accordingto calculatedasfollowing:

thelawoftheconservationofenergy: Tmax U max ,the

2 2 2
d 2Y d 2Y d 2Y

L1 L L
dx dx
2
EI EI EI dx
0
1
dx
2
L1
2
dx
2
L 2
3
dx
2
(3)
b

L1 L L
A 1Y 2
dx A 2Y 2
dx A 3 Y ( x ) 2 dx mY 2
2

( x ) ( x ) ( L m )
0 L1 L 2

Thesolutiontothefirststeptorsionalfrequencyisthe x x 2 L2 , whereis the amplitude of torsion. Then

same as the bending. The static torsion deflection can
the natural frequency of torsional vibration can be
be calculated by means of the same method:
calculatedasfollows:

d d d
2 2 2
L1 L2 L
0 1
GJ dx L GJ
dx
2
dx
dx L GJ 3 dx
dx (4)

1 2

t

L1

0
I P 1 ( x ) dx
2 L2
I P 2 ( x ) dx
2
L1
L
I P 3 ( x ) dx J NB
L 2
2
m l
2
(L m )
2

Where GJ1 , GJ 2 , GJ 3 are the stiffness of torsion for NaturalCharacteristicsResearchonTower

each beam,while I P1 , I P 2 , I P 3 are the unit lengthmass It is important for designers to make sure that the
momentofinertiaforeachbeam. towernaturalfrequencyisbeyondthefrequencyrange
of excitation force. Engineering experiences indicate

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that the resonance frequency is usually close to the frequenciesb andt increase with the rise of taper
naturalfrequencyofbendingandtorsionalvibrationof angle.
tower. The two frequencies are influenced by these
Thickness is another important factor influencing the
factors such as diameter, thickness, taper angle,
tower natural frequency. The influence of variable t1,
centroidmassandeccentricityandsoon.Theindepth
t2, t3 on the basic frequenciesb andt have been
research on the tower natural character has been
illustrated in Figure 4, where t1, t2, t3 separately
carried out with the mechanical modal established in
representthethicknessofthetop,middleandbottom.
chapter 2.2, and the objective is some MW wind
The figures show that the influence of thickness of
turbine tower. The parameters usedfor the calculated
differentsectionsonthebasicfrequenciesbandtare
modal are listed as following: the height is 67 m; the
notthesame,whilet1isthemax.Therefore,regulating
outer diameter in the top and the bottom is 4 m and
the thickness nearby the top is beneficial to the
2.65 m, respectively; the maximal and minimum
adjustmentofthenaturalfrequenciesbandt.
thickness is 30 mm and 12 mm, respectively; the
nacelle mass is 100 ton, the moment of inertia is 4e5
kg*m2, and the eccentricity is 0.5 m. All other
parameters are supposedconstant when the influence
ofoneofthemonthenaturalfrequencyisinvestigated.

FIG.4INFLUENCEOFTHICKNESS(T1,T2,T3)ONTHEBASICFREQUENCYB
ANDt

The influence of nacelle mass (M) on the natural

FIG.2INFLUENCEOFTHEOUTERDIAMETERINTHETOPD1ONTHE
frequenciesbandthasbeenillustratedinFigure5,in
NATURALFREQUENCYBANDT which the natural frequenciesb andt are decreased
The influence of the outer diameter in the top D1 on withtheincreasingnacellemass.
the natural frequencies of bending(b) and torsional
(t)vibrationwasshowninFigure2,andthenatural
frequencies b and t rises with the increase of
variableD1.

FIG.5 INFLUENCEOFNACELLEMASS(M)ONTHEBASICFREQUENCYB
ANDt

Inaddition,thesimilarrelationshipsbetweenmoment
of inertia J NB , offset of mass l and the natural
frequenciestcanbeeasilyobtainedfromtheformula
FIG.3 INFLUENCEOFTTAPERANGLEONTHEBASICFREQUENCY b
(4).
ANDt

Natural Characteristic Research on Tower

Generally, the diameter of tower in the top is
determined by the dimension of yaw system, so D1
cant be changed optionally. However, the natural
frequencies ofb andt can be modified by the taper
angle.ThetaperanglecanbealteredbyD2andD3,
both of which are the outer diameter of middle and
bottom beam. The relationship among tan andb
andt is presented in figure 3, in which the natural
with FEM
FiniteElementAnalysisModal
Inordertovalidatethereliabilityofabovemodal,FEA
modal was created using the same parameters in
ANSYS12.0. The moment of inertia is set separately
alongthreedirections,andmassnodeandnodesatthe

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top of tower are connected with rigid region. The characterresearchofwindturbinetower.

flanges, attachment structures in tower, weld defect,
residual stress etc are exxclusive from consideration.
Allnodesinthebottomofthemodalhavebeenfixed
with full degrees of freedom. The FEA modal and
constraintsareshowninFigure6.

FIG.7FIVELOWERSTEPMODESHAPESOFTOWER

FIG.6THEFEAMODALANDCONSTRAINS
FEAResults
The results of comparison of the lower step natural
frequencieswithFEMandRayleighmethodhavebeen
tabulated in Table 1, and the corresponding mode
shapesareillustratedinFigure7.AsshowninTable1,
the 1st step frequency is almost the same as the 2st
order frequency because of the structures symmetry.
Thus, the 1st and the 2st bending frequencies are
combined as the first synthetical bending frequency,
and the same as the 3st and the 4st. The contrasted
datesindicatethatthedifferencebetweentheresultsof
FEA and Rayleigh method is insignificant. Therefore
the Rayleigh method is acceptable to research natural
TABLE1RESULTSCOMPARISONOFTHELOWERSTEPNATURALFREQUENCIESWITHFEMANDRAYLEIGHMETHOD
InfluenceoftheDoorontheNaturalCharacteristicof
Tower
Theinfluenceofthedooronthenaturalcharacteristic
oftowerisnotconsideredinRayleighmethod.AFEA
model containing the door frame is created, and the
griddensitynearthedoorisreinforced.Theinfluence
of dimension and position of the door on the natural
frequencies of tower is investigated. The results for
different calculation schemes are shown in Table 2.
Height is the distance from bottom to the centre of
door;whilewidthistheframedistancealongheight.
AsshowninTable2,thelowerorderfrequenciesofthe
model with door are no better than that of the model
without door. So the influence of dimension and
position of the door on the lower order natural
frequenciesisveryinsignificantandcanbeneglected.

FEA Rayleighmethod Error

Order Natural
frequency/Hz
1 0.46534
2 0.46537
3 3.5547
4 3.5571
5 5.6285
Descriptionofmodeshapes Thebasicbending
frequencybyRayleigh 0.529Hz 13.68%
1stbending modeinYdirection method
1stbending modeinXdirection
2stbending modeinXdirection Thebasictorsional
2stbending modeinYdirection frequencybyRayleigh 5.142Hz 8.64%
method
1sttorsional mode

TABLE2INFLUENCEOFTHEDOORONTHELOWERORDERNATURALFREQUENCIES(HZ)OFTOWER

Calculationschemes 1storder 2storder 3storder 4storder 5storder

Calculationschemewithoutdoor 0.46534 0.46537 3.5547 3.5571 5.6285

Width=0.4m 0.46262 0.46294 3.5409 3.5419 5.6707

Height=1.8m
Width=0.7m 0.46265 0.46293 3.5377 3.5439 5.6642

Width=1.0m 0.46273 0.46278 3.5392 3.5399 5.6611

Height=1.0m 0.46281 0.46293 3.5401 3.5429 5.6978

Width=0.7m
Height=1.8m 0.46265 0.46293 3.5377 3.5439 5.6642

Height=2.8m 0.46268 0.46278 3.5389 3.5415 5.6801

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InternationalJournalofEnergyScience(IJES)Volume3Issue3,June2013
Conclusions
Adjustmentondiameter,taperangleandthicknesscan
changethenaturalfrequencyoftower,whichleadsto
muchmorepracticalsignificance.
The door at the bottom has very limited influence on
thenaturalcharacteristicoftower,andtheinfluenceof
dimension and position of the door on the 1st natural
characteristicoftowercanbeneglected.
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Ping Zhao, obtained Doctorate Degree in Mechanical
Engineering from Central South University in 2010,
She served in China Aviation Machinery Research Institute
as a turbine design engineer from 2006 to 2011. At present,
Research Institute Company Limited as a senior simulation
engineer. She has published over 20 papers in the most
academic publications, in which there are about 12 papers
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