POTENTIAL USE OF BIM AS A NEW METHODOLOGY FOR AN INNOVATIVE HYBRID-TOWER FOR ONSHORE WIND TURBINES

Manuel Koob1, Laura Alvarez-Anton2, Daniel Wolff3, Jens Minnert4, and Shang-Hsien Hsieh5

1) M. Eng., Dipl.-Ing. (FH), Department of Civil Engineering, Technische Hochschule Mittelhessen, Gießen, Germany.
2) Eng., M.Sc., Department of Civil Engineering, Technische Hochschule Mittelhessen, Gießen, Germany.
3) M. Eng., Dipl.-Ing. (FH), Department of Civil Engineering, Technische Hochschule Mittelhessen, Gießen, Germany.
4) Prof. Dr.-Ing., Department of Civil Engineering, Technische Hochschule Mittelhessen, Gießen, Germany.
5) Prof. Dr.-Ing., Dean, Department of Civil Engineering, Technische Hochschule Mittelhessen, Gießen, Germany.

Abstract: Nowadays wind energy is becoming a significant consideration in the development, growth and planning of new electrical systems. A special attention has been given to land based turbines, in order to ensure the efficient economical operation of massive hubs raising 100 m over the ground, due to the fact that the bigger the turbine, the more complicated the transportation and assembling processes. This paper will present the research project “hybrid²-tower for wind turbines” funded by the state of Hesse, Germany, which is about a new efficient and economical design for high wind turbine towers. The new hybrid²-tower design is composed of a concrete tower containing prefabricated concrete quarter-circle elements, steel beams and a steel tube tower on the top. The combination between concrete and steel beams improves the static and dynamic performance of the main supporting structure. With this new design proposal, the weight of the concrete tower is estimated to decrease by 40 % compared to a traditional full concrete tower, and as a positive consequence the cost for assembling, as well as the assembly process on site will be reduced. Although the new proposed design is more efficient than conventional ones, it has some demand for optimization related to assembly and transportation. Therefore a new methodology regarding transporting and assembling of the wind turbines will also be mentioned and described in this paper. Building information modeling will be highlighted as a suitable methodology for further research, which could be applied for improving the processes of designing, manufacturing, transporting and assembling of wind turbine structures.

Keywords: Renewable energy, Wind energy, Onshore wind turbines, Hybrid²-towers, Building information modeling, Prefabrication.

Bibliographical Reference:
Manuel Koob, Laura Alvarez-Anton, Daniel Wolff, Jens Minnert, and Joaquin Diaz. “POTENTIAL USE OF BIM AS A NEW METHODOLOGY FOR AN INNOVATIVE HYBRID-TOWER FOR ONSHORE WIND TURBINES.” In Proceedings of International Conference on Civil and Building Engineering Informatics (ICCBEI 2015), 44. Tokyo, Japan, 2015.

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