A Review of Research Progress on Horizontal Joints in Double Steel Plate-Confined Concrete Wind Turbine Towers

Abstract

With the continuous advancement of the “dual-carbon” strategy and the rapid development of large-capacity wind turbines, increasingly stringent requirements have been imposed on the bearing capacity, stiffness, stability, fatigue resistance, and construction efficiency of wind turbine towers. Although conventional steel towers, precast concrete-steel hybrid towers, and lattice towers have been widely used in engineering practice, they still show limitations in transportation, construction, maintenance, and joint performance. As a novel composite structural form, the double steel plate-confined concrete wind turbine tower combines the advantages of steel and concrete and has broad application prospects in terms of high bearing capacity, high stiffness, good ductility, and construction convenience. As the key connecting and force-transferring part of a segmental tower, the horizontal joint directly affects the overall safety and service life of the structure. This paper reviews the development demand for wind turbine towers, the structural characteristics of double steel plate-confined concrete systems, and the relevant research progress on concrete-filled steel tubular members, concrete-filled double-skin steel tubular members, and segmented tower joints. On this basis, the major problems in current studies are summarized, including insufficient understanding of the mechanical behavior under combined loading, incomplete design methods for joint bearing capacity, and limited engineering-oriented evaluation methods. Future research directions are also discussed. The review shows that the bearing mechanism and design theory of horizontal joints in double steel plate-confined concrete wind turbine towers are still under development, and further systematic studies integrating experiments, numerical simulations, and theoretical analysis are needed to support engineering application.