Effect of the Supporting Strata on Design of Windmill Tower

Windmill, machine that converts wind into useful energy. This energy is derived from the force of wind acting on oblique blades or sails that radiate from a shaft. The turning shaft may be connected to machinery used to generate electricity. The present paper makes an attempt to show the effect of wind and earthquake load on tubular type windmill and its foundation considering hard, medium and soft soil strata. The modeling of windmill tower was done in computer software by finite element modeling technique. In that windmill tower was subjected to wind and earthquake forces and check bending stresses, mode Shape, base shear comparison, stability, safety of windmill for hard, medium and soft strata. Also check stability, safety of windmill foundation and design of reinforcement required in the foundation for hard, medium and soft strata. Based on the analytical investigation and design it has been concluded that the effect of wind on windmill is significant as compare to earthquake, hence stability of windmill is thoroughly check for this load. Soil strata also play a major role in deciding its safety and stability. The normalized base shear, seismic moments, natural time period, bending stresses in tower and sizes and reinforcement of foundation increases from hard strata to soft strata.