Experimental Evaluation of Connectors Performance for Modular Double-Skinned Composite Tubular Wind Turbine Tower

Three types of connectors were proposed and tested for a modular double-skinned composite tubular (DSCT) wind turbine tower, which is composed of two concentric steel tubes filled with concrete between them. The three proposed types were a socket type connector, an H-type connector, and a bolted–welded with shear key connector. Using the proposed connectors, three modular DSCT tower specimens and a single-body specimen were built. Then, quasi-static tests were conducted to evaluate the performance of the three types of connectors, and their behavioral characteristics and failure modes were analyzed. The test results showed that the bolted–welded with shear key connector specimen exerted an almost equal moment resisting capacity as the single-body specimen; however, the other modular specimens exerted only half the moment resisting capacity of the single-body specimen. Moreover, the results showed that the bolted–welded with shear key connector is applicable in a modular DSCT wind turbine tower as it has equal ductility, maximum lateral displacement, and energy dissipation as the single-body specimen.

Tensile Properties of MoSi2 at Elevated Temperatures

The tensile properties of two MoSi2 alloys with different grain sizes (1 micrometer and 10 micrometer) were evaluated in vacuum at temperatures ranging from 1400 to 1600K and initial strain rates ranging from 1×10-5/s to 1×10-3/s. For the alloy with 10micron grain size an m vale of 0.35 and an activation energy value of 350 kJ/mol were observed in the lower strain rate range while an m value of 0.12 and an activation energy value of 760 kJ/mol were observed in the higher strain rate range. For the alloy with 1micron grain size, a uniform m value of 0.55 and an activation energy value of 160 kJ/mol were observed. Moreover these two alloys showed remarkable ductility (maximum 33%) in the test temperatures. The deformation mechanism and the remarkable ductility are discussed in the light of the microstructural observations through SEM and TEM.