Economic viability of ultra high-performance fiber reinforced concrete in prestressed concrete wind towers to support a 5 MW turbine

The Ultra-High Performance Fiber-Reinforced Concrete is a material with remarkable mechanical properties and durability when compared to conventional and high performance concrete, which allows its use even without the reinforcement. This paper proposes the design of prestressed towers for a 5 MW turbine, through regulatory provisions and the limit states method, with UHPFRC and the concrete class C50, comparing the differences obtained in the design by parametric analysis, giving the advantages and disadvantages of using this new type of concrete. Important considerations, simplifications and notes are made to the calculation process, as well as in obtaining the prestressing and passive longitudinal and passive transverse reinforcement, highlighting the shear strength of annular sections comparing a model proposed here with recent experimental results present in the literature, which was obtained good agreement. In the end, it is estimated a first value within the constraints here made to ensure the economic viability of the use of UHPFRC in a 100 m prestressed wind tower with a 5 MW turbine.