Design method of prestressed anchor bolt system for wind turbine foundation

Abstract

The prestressed anchor bolt system is a reasonable connection mode between the upper steel tower and the bottom concrete foundation for multi‐megawatt wind turbines. This prestressed anchor bolt connection with forged flanges has a similar form to the prestressed high‐strength bolt connection with forged flanges between steel tubes for the tower. However, their mechanical performances have a great difference because of the influence of the stiffness of the anchorage zone in the concrete foundation. Based on the Petersen's method, the engineering calculation method of the prestressed anchor bolt system for wind turbine foundation is derived. The tensile force of the anchor bolt, the anchorage stiffness and clamping force of the base are all deduced according to the theories of mechanics of materials. The numerical models of the segment foundation with the unfavorable anchor bolt and the overall foundation with all anchor bolts are developed for researching the influence of the spatial effect of adjacent segments on the restraint stiffness of the concrete foundation. The numerical analyses of four engineering cases designed by engineering calculation method are carried out for verifying the effectiveness of engineering calculation method. The analysis results show the spatial effect of adjacent segments can be neglected and the Petersen's method can be directly applied for the design of the prestressed anchor bolt system for wind turbine foundation in engineering practice. The engineering calculation method meets the accuracy requirements in engineering practice and can be used to design the prestressed anchor bolt system of wind turbine foundation.