DESIGN FOR FLANGELESS WIND TOWER

摘要

A wind turbine tower (100) employing fingerplate assemblies (510) on a flangeless joint (500) between adjacent tubular tower sections (140). Means for stiffening the wind turbine tower includes a limited intercan gap (28) between adjacent tubular tower sections (140) at the flangeless joint (500) and selecting a number of fingerplate assemblies (510) to fasten each flangeless joints (500) to limit distortion. Selecting optimum dimensions (520), (530), (535) for the fingerplates (540) may further minimize localized tower distortion. A material for the fingerplate (540) with a lower Young's modulus than a material for the tubular section results in reduced localized tower distortion. Attaching a coverplate (620) to a top tubular section limits tip displacement for the tower. The coverplate (620) may include backing stiffeners (690) and be comprised of a material with a high Young's modulus relative to the Young's modulus for the fingerplates (540).