Fatigue Life Analysis of Wind Turbine Tower Based on Finite Element Analysis

According to the IEC64100-1 standard, the design life of wind turbines is usually 20 years, and when the operating life reaches the design life should be decommissioned. However, since the operating conditions of the site are usually better than the design conditions, and the cumulative fatigue damage during the design life is less than the design conditions, the actual life of the turbine components is usually greater than 20 years. The tower is an important supporting mechanism component of a wind turbine, and its safe operation has a significant impact on the life of the unit. In order to evaluate the continuous safe operation period after the unit reaches the design life and improve the economic benefits of the project, this paper selects 66 turbines in a wind farm, and the wind turbine tower is selected as the analysis component. Based on the fatigue life calculation of finite element analysis, it is found through a detailed calculation that under the risk probability of 97.7%, the average remaining life of the tower is 5.6 years, which can continue to operate safely.