Purpose: In the last decades, the demand and use of renewable energies have been increasing. The increase in renewable energies, particularly wind energy, leads to the development and innovation of powerful wind energy converters as well as increased production requirements. Hence, a higher supporting structure is required to achieve higher wind speed with less turbulence. To date, the onshore wind towers with tubular connections are the most used. The maximum diameter of this type of tower is limited by transportation logistics. The purpose of this paper is to propose an alternative wind turbine lattice structure based on half-pipe steel connections.Design/methodology/approach: In this study, a new concept of steel hybrid tower has been proposed. The focus of this work is the development of a lattice structure. Therefore, the geometry of the lattice part of the tower is assessed to decrease the number of joints and bolts. The sections used in the lattice structure are constructed in a polygonal shape. The elements are obtained by cold forming and bolted along the length. The members are connected by gusset plates and preloaded bolts. A numerical investigation of joints is carried out using the finite element (FE) software ABAQUS.Findings: Based on the proposed study, the six “legs” solution with K braces under 45° angle and height/spread ratio of 4/1 and 5/1 provides the most suitable balance between the weight of the supporting structure, number of bolts in joints and reaction forces in the foundations, when compared with four “legs” solution.Originality/value: In this investigation, the failure modes of elements and joints of an alternative wind turbine lattice structures, as well as the rotation stiffness of the joints, are determined. The FE results show good agreement with the analytical calculation proposed by EC3-1-8 standard.

Performing fatigue characterisation is often an expensive task, being both time consuming and expensive. Taking that into account, ultrasonic fatigue testing is an interesting solution, since it can be thousands of times faster than traditional experiments. In ultrasonic fatigue testing, excitation frequencies are in the order of magnitude of 20 kHz, while common fatigue testing frequencies are typically approximately a few hundreds of Hz. Although promising, ultrasonic fatigue testing has some challenges, like high strain rates, heat generation and complex specimen design. Regarding the latter, since the working principle of ultrasonic fatigue tests relies on exciting the specimen in one of its natural frequencies, finding a specimen geometry to resonate at this given frequency might be challenging. Additionally, some materials often present challenges associated with high temperature during tests. The goal of this paper is to provide guidelines for specimen design, encompassing the effects of critical factors and their impact on important test parameters, like temperature and dimensions. The proposed methodology developed a parameter able to quantify the heat generation severity during ultrasonic fatigue testing for several materials based on their physical properties. Moreover, the effects of the geometry and material properties in the temperature during loading cycles, with special focus on thermal gradients were enumerated.

The longevity of railway vehicles is an important factor in their mechanical and structural design. Fatigue is a major issue that affects the durability of railway components, and therefore, the knowledge of the fatigue resistance characteristics of critical components, such as leaf springs, must be extensively investigated. This research covers the fatigue resistance of chromium-vanadium alloy steel, usually designated as 51CrV4 from the high-cycle regime (HCF) (10³ - 10⁴) up to very high-cycle fatigue (VHCF) (10⁹) under bending loading conditions, typical of leaf springs, and under uniaxial tension/compression loading, respectively, for a stress ratio of -1. Since different test frequencies were considered (23, 150, and 20 000 Hz), the frequency effect was also analysed, despite the material not exhibiting a significant frequency effect. In order to achive a new fatigue prediction model, two prediction models (the Basquin SN linear regression model and the Castillo-Fernandez-Cantelli (CFC) model were evaluated. According to the analysis carried out, the CFC model provided a better prediction for fatigue failures than the SN model, especially when outlier failure data are considered. The investigation also examined the failure modes, observing multiple cracks for higher loads and single cracks with initiation on the surface or from internal inclusions for lower loading. The present investigation aims to provide a fatigue resistance prediction model encompassing the HCF and VHCF fatigue region, for the fatigue design of railway wagon leaf springs or even for other components made of 51CrV4 with a tempered martensitic microstructure.

The longevity of railway vehicles is an important factor in their mechanical and structural design. Fatigue is a major issue that affects the durability of railway components, and therefore, knowledge of the fatigue resistance characteristics of critical components, such as the leaf springs, must be extensively investigated. This research covers the fatigue resistance of chromium–vanadium alloy steel, usually designated as 51CrV4, from the high-cycle regime (HCF) (${10}^3$–${10}^4$) up to very high-cycle fatigue (VHCF) (${10}^9$) under the bending loading conditions typical of leaf springs and under uniaxial tension/compression loading, respectively, for a stress ratio, $R_{\sigma }$, of −1. Different test frequencies were considered (23, 150, and 20,000 Hz) despite the material not exhibiting a relatively significant frequency effect. In order to create a new fatigue prediction model, two prediction models, the Basquin SN linear regression model and the Castillo–Fernandez–Cantelli (CFC) model, were evaluated. According to the analysis carried out, the CFC model provided a better prediction of the fatigue failures than the SN model, especially when outlier failure data were considered. The investigation also examined the failure modes, observing multiple cracks for higher loads and single cracks that initiated on the surface or from internal inclusions at lower loading. The present investigation aims to provide a fatigue resistance prediction model encompassing the HCF and VHCF regions for the fatigue design of railway wagon leaf springs, or even for other components made of 51CrV4 with a tempered martensitic microstructure.