Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Giant Wind Turbines Keep Mysteriously Falling Over. This Shouldn't Be Happening.
Popular Mechanics ^ | JAN 23, 2023 | Tim Newcomb

Posted on 02/02/2023 9:56:52 AM PST by Leaning Right

The taller the wind turbine, the harder they fall. And they sure are falling.

Wind turbine failures are on the uptick, from Oklahoma to Sweden and Colorado to Germany, with all three of the major manufacturers admitting that the race to create bigger turbines has invited manufacturing issues, according to a report from Bloomberg.

(Excerpt) Read more at popularmechanics.com ...


TOPICS: Front Page News; Miscellaneous
KEYWORDS: globalwarminghooax; howdareyou; turbine; windpower; windturbines
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-20 ... 61-8081-100101-120121-124 next last
To: fini

Exactly!


81 posted on 02/02/2023 11:17:12 AM PST by null and void (You can’t have a police state without a state police.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 62 | View Replies]

To: Leaning Right

...almost like a resistance is growing to this green agenda....


82 posted on 02/02/2023 11:18:19 AM PST by Erik Latranyi (Make America Florida)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: EQAndyBuzz

Gives them something to tilt at. 😎👍


83 posted on 02/02/2023 11:28:05 AM PST by rktman (Destroy America from within? Check! WTH? Enlisted USN 1967 to end up with this? 😕)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 78 | View Replies]

To: MikeSteelBe

As a manufacturer of roof truss systems for several decades, we had to incorporate significant wind loads to accommodate church steeples mounted to our trusses. They were always over-engineered and are therefore still standing. (Thank you Lord!)


84 posted on 02/02/2023 11:37:42 AM PST by Quilla
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 24 | View Replies]

To: Leaning Right

I guess they didn’t do wind tests to account for tornadoes in OK that can produce not only 100mph sustained winds, but updrafts and downdrafts, and assdrafts, etc....

I always laugh when we go to Hawaii that they restrict signage size and heights, all for the environment and aesthetics, but litter the mountainsides with windmills. I guess in their minds they are goo little envorinazis.


85 posted on 02/02/2023 11:39:14 AM PST by okkev68
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: 5inch38gunner

“The tips of those blades are moving close to the speed of sound”

No. Limited to about 300 km/h.


86 posted on 02/02/2023 11:44:31 AM PST by steve86 (Numquam accusatus, numquam ad curiam ibit, numquam ad carcerem™)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 54 | View Replies]

To: hecticskeptic
Take a look at the third picture at post 18... See how the flanges (top and bottom) have separated completely with almost zero damage? It almost looks like all the bolts have simply and simultaneously evaporated and in fact, they have... While the vibration due to the rotating mass could have had a role in the fatigue damage of the bolts, it more likely is just the result of the tower swaying in the wind and putting the bolts through endless cycles of varying stress. Then one bolt goes and puts the rest under even more stress.... however, since they all have been put through the same number of cycles, the remaining bolts are also near the end of their fatigue life and with a bit of an increase in wind that adds a bit more stress, they all start to pop just like popcorn... and down comes the tower. I could show many pictures just like this one... some where the separation at a flange is complete and some just like the picture 3 where it’s still hanging on by a a few bolts that act as the hinge point as it topples over.

Looking at that third picture, it appears to me that the steel failed first above the joint, causing the mast with the doghouse to fold and lean over. It was this off-center load that then sheared the bolts as you described, arresting any further folding of the steel at the failure point and instead finished toppling over at the failed joint.

In other words, the bolts failed because the tower leaned over, the tower didn't lean over because the bolts gave out. The bolts were stretched beyond their yield point.

87 posted on 02/02/2023 11:49:46 AM PST by Yo-Yo (Is the /Sarc tag really necessary? Pray for President Biden: Psalm 109:8)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 77 | View Replies]

To: hecticskeptic
Take a look at the third picture at post 18... See how the flanges (top and bottom) have separated completely with almost zero damage? It almost looks like all the bolts have simply and simultaneously evaporated and in fact, they have... While the vibration due to the rotating mass could have had a role in the fatigue damage of the bolts, it more likely is just the result of the tower swaying in the wind and putting the bolts through endless cycles of varying stress. Then one bolt goes and puts the rest under even more stress.... however, since they all have been put through the same number of cycles, the remaining bolts are also near the end of their fatigue life and with a bit of an increase in wind that adds a bit more stress, they all start to pop just like popcorn... and down comes the tower. I could show many pictures just like this one... some where the separation at a flange is complete and some just like the picture 3 where it’s still hanging on by a a few bolts that act as the hinge point as it topples over.

Looking at that third picture, it appears to me that the steel failed first above the joint, causing the mast with the doghouse to fold and lean over. It was this off-center load that then sheared the bolts as you described, arresting any further folding of the steel at the failure point and instead finished toppling over at the failed joint.

In other words, the bolts failed because the tower leaned over, the tower didn't lean over because the bolts gave out. The bolts were stretched beyond their yield point.

88 posted on 02/02/2023 11:49:47 AM PST by Yo-Yo (Is the /Sarc tag really necessary? Pray for President Biden: Psalm 109:8)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 77 | View Replies]

To: hecticskeptic

Sorry for the double tap...


89 posted on 02/02/2023 11:50:13 AM PST by Yo-Yo (Is the /Sarc tag really necessary? Pray for President Biden: Psalm 109:8)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 77 | View Replies]

To: Leaning Right
LOL!

Seriously though.....there was a reason Warren Buffett considered wind energy a bad investment.

90 posted on 02/02/2023 11:54:27 AM PST by Churchillspirit (Pray for President Trump)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Leaning Right
- ... the specs for one section of concrete called for rebars 12 inches apart. The workers were laying them 18 inches apart. Just to save a few bucks. -

Some years back, in a different locale, I learned about a home builder that would lay the rebar for the home's foundation, get it inspected and approved. Later that day they would pull the rebar for use at another home site and pour the concrete.

91 posted on 02/02/2023 11:57:52 AM PST by ken in texas
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 30 | View Replies]

To: Leaning Right

Green job etc scam…as predicted.


92 posted on 02/02/2023 12:03:24 PM PST by right way right (May we remain sober over mere men, for God really is our only true hope. )
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Leaning Right

Wind turbines, A YUGE mistake!

Who couldn’t see the fallacy of this idea?


93 posted on 02/02/2023 12:13:32 PM PST by faucetman (Just the facts, ma'am, Just the facts )
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: rednesss

As a followup to your speculation I would remind everyone of the office tower in Boston back 30 years ago that had window/curtain wall failure. The design had been analyzed with wind mock-up computations from 120 different wind angles — essentially every three degrees of exposure. After the failures it was discovered that if the analysis and mock-up had been done for every 1.5 degrees they would have found multiple failure angles.

These towers and the bladed turbines are very complex structures and the most complex portions are at the point of highest leverage and height. A storm has winds whipping all directions and different winds at various levels. Design analysis would have to be extremely complex to determine everything that could bear on possible failure.


94 posted on 02/02/2023 12:30:37 PM PST by KC Burke
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 58 | View Replies]

To: Yo-Yo

That is a very pretty sight. I hope the all meet that fate.


95 posted on 02/02/2023 12:43:53 PM PST by GingisK
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 18 | View Replies]

To: Leaning Right

Someone is telling us that windmills are definitely not the answer to our energy problems.


96 posted on 02/02/2023 12:48:35 PM PST by 353FMG (Secretly practicing my Putin swagger..)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Leaning Right
Inspectors are people that are too lazy or couldn't make it in the real world of construction.

The self-proclaimed inspector on this thread, blaming cheating contractors for shoddy work, wasn't able to see from the photos there clearly was no failure in the concrete.

Yes there are contractors that cheat just as there are inspectors that take bribes.

97 posted on 02/02/2023 1:12:17 PM PST by lewislynn (Trump accomplished more in one term than any other President in your lifetime.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 30 | View Replies]

To: Leaning Right

Just like the whole climate change fad, too much motion anchored on too flimsy a foundation.


98 posted on 02/02/2023 1:44:25 PM PST by Eleutheria5 (Every Goliath has his David.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Leaning Right
manufacturing ?

Or DESIGN??

99 posted on 02/02/2023 1:54:58 PM PST by Elsie (Heck is where people, who don't believe in Gosh, think they are not going...)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Leaning Right

The pictures posted here show NO footing failure.

The towers are broken in the middle!


100 posted on 02/02/2023 1:57:24 PM PST by Elsie (Heck is where people, who don't believe in Gosh, think they are not going...)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 30 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-20 ... 61-8081-100101-120121-124 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson