Foundation with pedestal and ribs for towers
OwnerAhmed M. Phulyinventor
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A wind turbine foundation comprising a concrete support slab having a horizontal rebar grid therein, a concrete pedestal integral with the support slab and having vertical post tensioning elements therein and a plurality of concrete ribs on top of and integral with the support slab and integral with the pedestal, the ribs having rebar therein and extend outwardly from the pedestal, the pedestal, slab and ribs are connected to each other to form a monolithic foundation. The foundation design reduces the weight and volume of materials used, reduces cost, and improves heat dissipation conditions during construction by having a small ratio of concrete mass to surface area thus eliminating the risk of thermal cracking due to heat of hydration.
Claims5
A fatigue resistant foundation comprising:
- a laterally restrained and vertically prestressed concrete pedestal with a base and a predetermined height, the pedestal having vertical rebar and bursting reinforcing around and an array of vertical post tensioning elements therein;
- an array of precast concrete girders, each precast concrete girder having a horizontal base and an upper projection above the horizontal base, each precast concrete girders tapered downwardly as each precast concrete girder extends outwardly from the pedestal, each precast concrete girder having rebar dowels protruding laterally from the horizontal base on both sides of the horizontal base at spaced intervals, and the array of precast concrete girders arranged in pairs on opposite sides of the pedestal;
- an array of slab-on-grade segments, each slab-on-grade segment placed between the respective horizontal bases of adjacent precast concrete girders, and each slab-on-grade segment structurally connected to the precast concrete girders by receiving the lateral rebar dowels along a length dimension of the respective precast concrete girder;
- an array of post-tensioning elements extending from distal ends of the precast concrete girders through the pedestal to rigidly connect each pair of precast concrete girders to the pedestal under heavy lateral post compression stress;
- and
- a tower base supported atop the pedestal;
- wherein the tower base is connected to the pedestal under vertical post compression stress and the pedestal is kept under a combination of heavy three-dimensional post-compression stress and lateral confinement to thereby provide reduced stress range amplitudes, reduced deflections, increased bearing capacity and improved fatigue resistance.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.