A Novel Approach for Numerical Calculation and Optimization of High-Cycle Fatigue Life under Multi-Axial Loads

Modern high-cycle fatigue criteria were implemented in structural wind turbine parts using finite element method. As a result of a test carried out for two fatigue criteria, it was concluded that the Dang Van hypothesis has more conservative results than S-N method. The complete algorithm of the fatigue calculation was illustrated by applying the proposed procedures to a wind turbine hub which is subjected to multi-axial, non-proportional and non-constant amplitude high-cycle loadings and then a structural optimization method is used to reduce the weight and moment of inertia of the wind turbine rotor. ANSYS Workbench and nCode design life are used in the structural and fatigue modeling of the hub.