Thin-walled FRP-concrete-steel tubular tower with a top mass block subjected to lateral impact loading: Experimental study and FE analysis

Thin-walled hollow steel tube towers (HSTs), frequently utilized as a wind turbine tower, are facing challenges such as corrosion and local buckling in their service life. To enhance the anti-corrosion capacity and local buckling resistance, an FRP tube and an annular concrete layer can be employed to protect the HST, thus forming a novel member: thin-walled FRP-concrete-steel tubular towers (TW-FCSTs). Using a horizontal vehicle impact system, this study investigated the impact behavior of five large-scale TW-FCSTs, each with a top mass block to mimic the rotor and nacelle of wind turbine. All specimens were designed with a large diameter (300 mm) and a large void ratio (0.73 or 0.82). The experimental results revealed that: (1) Under lateral impact loading, TW-FCSTs displayed a global flexural failure mode, accompanied by localized concavity damage; (2) The inertial effect was enlarged by the top mass block, affecting the dynamic response of TW-FCSTs; (3) the increase of steel thickness led to higher energy dissipation but lower local deformation; (4) the increase of void ratio resulted in larger local deformation but smaller lateral global displacement. Finally, based on LS-DYNA, FE models were utilized to simulate the dynamic responses of TW-FCSTs with a top mass block.