Category: Towers & Foundations
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Offshore wind turbines foundation types
Offshore is one of the fastest growing sectors in the renewable energy business in Europe. In 2010 more than 300 new turbines have been installed, reaching a total of more than 3000 MW connected to the grid. The number is not huge, but the offshore agenda is quite busy: more than 20.000 MW are expected…
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Wind turbine foundation remedial work: an example
The purpose of the remedial works in a damaged wind turbine foundation is to provide an alternative load path. Other operation that are normally done are injection of mortar or resins in the cracks and water sealing. Here you have an example of remedial works in case of foundation failure and subsequent tower movements. The…
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Cracks in onshore wind turbines foundation
The appearance of fissures in wind turbine foundations is a rather common event. There is no consensus in the sector about the root cause of the cracks. You can find a comprehensive family tree of fracture types below: From my experience it seems that old foundations with embedded ring are more prone to fissures compared…
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Wind turbines foundations grouting
Grout is an extra high properties material that is normally used in wind farm construction just below the tower flange, above the foundation. It is a transition material, designed to have a very high fatigue resistance. All the dynamic loads need to be transferred and absorbed by the grout connecting the tower to the foundation…
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Concrete towers for onshore wind farms: an overview
Concrete towers are still an uncommon solution nowadays, basically they are still more expensive than they steel counterparts. But the trend we see in the market is toward highest tower, of 100 meters and above, while current 2MW-3MW turbines normally have an hub height around 80 meters: this can lead to situation where an hybrid…
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Wind turbines foundation design
Wind turbines foundation design is an art (and a job) by itself. Here you have a very quick overview of the process for shallow foundation (Patrick & Henderson foundation, widely used in the USA, follow a totally different approach) . The inputs for the foundation design are the result of the geological survey and the…
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Anchor Cage assembly
Here you have several picture of an anchor cage we assembled a few days ago. The anchor cage is a system conceived to transfer the loads to the foundation more effectively, anchoring the tower to the foundation. It is made of two ring-shaped steel plates, an anchor plate and a load distribution plate, secured by…
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Anchor cage foundations
Anchor cage foundations are an alternative to the embedded ring and they will be a de facto standard in the future. Basically an anchor cage is a set of bolts, kept together by an inferior and superior steel rings. It normally arrives disassembled to the site, and it is mounted by workers in a few…