Research on Failure of Offshore Wind Turbine Tower in Typhoon

Offshore wind power is an important measure to fulfill the electricity demand of the coastal city. But some areas such as East Asia, North America and Bay of Bengal are usually visited by typhoons or hurricanes. The offshore wind turbines are severely threatened by typhoons or hurricanes in these areas. This paper focuses on the failure mechanism of offshore wind turbine tower in typhoon by means of simulation method. Simulation result shows that long cantilever structure is a key factor which may lead to failure of offshore wind turbine tower. Based on mechanism study mentioned above, this paper propose that the tower may be strengthened by stay cables through a passive control method. Simulation and experiment results indicate that the mechanical properties of a tower might be enhanced to some extent.