Constructional Details for Wind Turbines

Fatigue designing of wind turbines is becoming more and more important due to increasing hub heights. For economic reasons both material and geometry have to be taken into account. At the joint of steel tower and concrete member, load distributions inside the concrete can be activated. The passive confinement of unreinforced concrete has to be investigated in more detail for reliable applications.

Through an experimental set-up the multiaxial stresses of these constructional details will be determined. The aim is, to gain further knowledge about the connection point by including comprehensive boundary conditions under fatigue loading. In addition, the set-up will be used to investigate previously damaged concrete by fire exposure with respect to joints of wind turbines.