Wrapped Composite Joints For Fatigue Resistant Circular Hollow Section Steel Structures In Wind Energy
Mees Wolters (Tree Composites)
C. Waltener (Tree Composites)
M. Koetsier (TU Delft - Steel & Composite Structures)
Jincheng Yang (TU Delft - Steel & Composite Structures)
M. Moreira Arouche (TU Delft - Steel & Composite Structures)
M. Pavlović (TU Delft - Steel & Composite Structures)
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Abstract
Offshore renewable energy sources, such as wind and solar require resilient support structures that are vastly loaded by cyclic loading due to wind and waves. As such, the structures built from steel circular hollow sections are structurally optimal to resist extreme loads but their design is hampered by low fatigue resistance of traditionally welded joints resulting in short lifetime, excessive use of steel material and corrosion problems. Innovative wrapped composite joints connect steel tubes by bonding and replace traditional complex welded joints of tubes by relying on excellent corrosion and fatigue performance of fibre-polymer composite material. Composite joints can reduce amount of steel needed to build supporting structures prone to fatigue up to 50% and can speed up production and assembly of towers supporting wind turbines by factor of 2. In addition, the wrapped composite joints unleash the potential of designing and building corrosion free offshore support structures completely made of composite tubes as structural members, or in combination with steel tubes. This paper presents potential of wrapped composite joints, state of development through experimental testing and numerical modelling, certification of joints and pilot projects in offshore environment. The outlook for further research and development is also given.
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