Assessing the resilience of steel cylindrical shells under bending loads: a parametric study of imperfections and corrosion
Ben Ganendra, Teguh Muttaqie, Aditya Rio Prabowo, Tuswan Tuswan, Rahimuddin Samad, Branislav Djordjevic, Eko Prasetya Budiana, Prayoga Wira Adie, Mar’atu Sholikhah, Muhammad Ilham SholehuddinAbstract
Cylindrical shell structures are in high demand in numerous marine applications due to their high strength-to-weight ratio, enabling lower material costs and reduced structural self-weight. Numerous studies have investigated the behavior of cylindrical shell structures under various parameters. However, research on the flexural response of cylindrical shell structures for wind turbines under geometrical imperfections and pitting corrosion remains limited. Hence, this paper aims to investigate the flexural response of a wind turbine cross-section under pure bending load, using numerical simulations validated by experimental results, followed by a parametric study to analyze the effect of initial geometric imperfections, diameter-to-thickness geometry, and pitting corrosion. The benchmark results indicated that the proposed numerical simulation closely matched the experimental results, with accuracies ranging from 0.36 % to 5.25 %. The parametric study found that the diameter-to-thickness ( D/t ) ratio has a minimal effect on the number of buckling half-waves. Pitting corrosion reduces flexural strength, with deeper pits leading to greater loss. The study also found that higher temperatures accelerate corrosion, further degrading flexural strength.