• Wind and Structures
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• v.15 no.4
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• pp.301-311
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• 2012

This paper presents results from the structural monitoring of a steel wind tower characterized and presented in Part I of the paper. Monitoring period corresponds to about fifteen months of measurements. Results presented refer to stress distribution on shell and in bolts at different heights, stress fatigue spectra, section forces along height evaluated from the stress measurements and comparison with design forces, dynamic response in terms of accelerations, stresses, deflections and rotations.

• International journal of steel structures
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• v.18 no.4
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• pp.1318-1324
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• 2018

This paper evaluates the effects of door opening, collar stiffener, and initial imperfection on the ultimate strength of a 10 MW wind tower. The lower segment of the tower was modeled to investigate the ultimate strength using steel cylindrical shell elements of finite element program ABAQUS. The wind tower was classified into three categories; without opening nor stiffener (C1), with opening but no stiffener (C2), and with opening and stiffener (C3). The C2 and C3 were further divided into long axis and short axis categories depending on the position of the opening. Result from linear and nonlinear analyses shows that the bigger the opening the bigger the reduction in strength and the same thing goes for the initial imperfection ratio or ovality of the shell. Also, there is a significant decreased in strength as the initial imperfection ratio increases by as high as 18.08%.

• Proceedings of the KIEE Conference
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• 1993.11a
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• pp.281-283
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• 1993

We have studied and researched about the pipe steel tower. Which can be designed briefly with fewer members and due to electrical supported with single member economically and safely as higher structure and bigger load is required for 765kv T/L and it is difficult to transmit the electricity with good quality Safely and economically by the traditional steel tower composed of single angle.

• KEPCO Journal on Electric Power and Energy
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• v.2 no.2
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• pp.293-298
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• 2016

Recently, interests for maintenance of transmission tower are increasing to extend life of structures and reduce maintenance cost. However, existing classical diagnosis method of corrosion deteriorated degree on the transmission tower steel members, visual inspection, has a problem that error often due to difference of inspector's individual knowledge and experience. In order to solve the problem, this study carried out to develop the corrosion deterioration inspection tool for transmission tower steel members. This tool is composed of camera equipment and computer-aided diagnosis system. We standardized the photographing method by camera equipment to obtain suitable pictures for image processing. Diagnosis system was designed to evaluate automatically degree of corrosion deterioration for member of transmission tower on the basis of the RGB color image processing techniques. It is anticipated that developed the corrosion deterioration inspection tool will be very helpful in decision of optimal maintenance time for transmission tower corrosion.

• Wind and Structures
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• v.25 no.5
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• pp.433-457
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• 2017

As a novel typical wind-sensitive structure, the wind load and wind-induced structural behaviors of super-large straight-cone cooling towers are in an urgent need to be addressed and studied. A super large straight-cone steel cooling tower (189 m high, the highest in Asia) that is under construction in Shanxi Power Plant in China was taken as an example, for which four finite element models corresponding to four structural types: the main drum; main drum + stiffening rings; main drum + stiffening rings + auxiliary rings (auxiliary rings are hinged with the main drum and the ground respectively); and main drum + stiffening rings + auxiliary rings (auxiliary rings are fixed onto the main drum and the ground respectively), were established to compare and analyze the dynamic properties and force transferring paths of different models. After that, CFD method was used to conduct numerical simulation of flow field and mean wind load around the cooling tower. Through field measurements and wind tunnel tests at home and abroad, the reliability of using CFD method for numerical simulation was confirmed. On the basis of this, the surface flow and trail characteristics of the tower at different heights were derived and the wind pressure distribution curves for the internal and external surfaces at different heights of the tower were studied. Finally, based on the calculation results of wind-induced responses of the four models, the effects of stiffening rings, auxiliary rings, and different connecting modes on the dynamic properties and wind-induced responses of the tower structure were derived and analyzed; meanwhile, the effect mechanism of internal suction on such kind of cooling tower was discussed. The study results could provide references to the structure selection and wind resistance design of such type of steel cooling towers.

• Transactions of Materials Processing
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• v.21 no.7
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• pp.412-419
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• 2012

The ingot-breakdown scheme of a tower flange material (low-alloy steel) for offshore wind turbine was investigated using finite element (FE) simulations and experimental analyses. Based on compression test results of the low-alloy steel, a deformation processing map was generated using the superposition approach between the dynamic materials model (DMM) and Ziegler's instability criterion. The deformation processing map allowed determination of the optimum process conditions for the tower flange material. Within the FE simulations of the ingot breakdown process, the Cockcroft-Latham criterion, which considers ductile fracture, was used to predict the possibility of forming defects during the hot working process. In general, the critical value for the ductile fracture of steel is 0.74. During the ingot-breakdown under optimum process conditions, the actual tower flange forgings exhibited a relatively uniform shape without any forming defects.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.8 no.4
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• pp.935-956
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• 2015

Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) of steel towers has become a hot research topic. From the literature, it is impractical and impossible to develop a "general" method that can detect all kinds of damages for all types of structures. A practical method should make use of the characteristics of the type of structures and the kind of damages. This paper reports a feasibility study on the use of measured modal parameters for the detection of damaged braces of tower structures following the Bayesian probabilistic approach. A substructure-based structural model-updating scheme, which groups different parts of the target structure systematically and is specially designed for tower structures, is developed to identify the stiffness distributions of the target structure under the undamaged and possibly damaged conditions. By comparing the identified stiffness distributions, the damage locations and the corresponding damage extents can be detected. By following the Bayesian theory, the probability model of the uncertain parameters is derived. The most probable model of the steel tower can be obtained by maximizing the probability density function (PDF) of the model parameters. Experimental case studies were employed to verify the proposed method. The contributions of this paper are not only on the proposal of the substructure-based Bayesian model updating method but also on the verification of the proposed methodology through measured data from a scale model of transmission tower under laboratory conditions.

• KEPCO Journal on Electric Power and Energy
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• v.4 no.2
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• pp.63-66
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• 2018

Lattice towers and tubular steel poles have been commonly used for electrical power transmission in Korea as well as the other countries. They are durable, structurally stable, simple and can easily be constructed in limited spaces. However, residents are opposed to construct transmission lattice towers in their areas because they are not visually attractive, and electrical field occur at the transmission lines. Underground transmissions have been used instead of the traditional towers to resolve these problems, however they are not cost effective to construct and run. Therefore, we have developed compact towers that are more attractive, well blend into the surrounding environment and much more economical than underground transmissions. This paper shows the design of a compact towers with insulation arm, in order to reduce the height of tower and the separation between phases. The compact tower can be installed in a narrow right-of-way. Insulation arms are easily applied to lattice and steel tubular towers instead of steel arms. Compact towers with insulation arm are also considered as a solution to have public acceptance or to create a familiar atmosphere among towers and people. Compact tower compared with a conventional tower, insulation arms reduces the width and height of the tower by 20% and 15% respectively.

• Wind and Structures
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• v.21 no.6
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• pp.709-726
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• 2015

In this study, a novel vision-based bolt-loosening monitoring technique is proposed for bolted joints connecting tubular steel segments of the wind turbine tower (WTT) structure. Firstly, a bolt-loosening detection algorithm based on image processing techniques is developed. The algorithm consists of five steps: image acquisition, segmentation of each nut, line detection of each nut, nut angle estimation, and bolt-loosening detection. Secondly, experimental tests are conducted on a lab-scale bolted joint model under various bolt-loosening scenarios. The bolted joint model, which is consisted of a ring flange and 32 sets of bolt and nut, is used for simulating the real bolted joint connecting steel tower segments in the WTT. Finally, the feasibility of the proposed vision-based technique is evaluated by bolt-loosening monitoring in the lab-scale bolted joint model.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.4 no.1
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• pp.9-21
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• 2004

The present study aims at the reliability analysis of steel towers against the limit state of deflection. For this purpose tip deflection of the tower has been obtained after carrying out the dynamic analysis of the tower using modal method. This tip deflection is employed for subsequent reliability analysis. A limit state function based on serviceability criterion of deflection is derived in terms of random variables. A complete procedure of reliability computation is then presented. To study the influence of various random variables on tower reliability, sensitivity analysis has been carried out. Design points, important for probabilistic design of towers, are also located on the failure surface. Some parametric studies have also been included to obtain the results of academic and field interest.