Comparative Study on the Static Performance of Sandwich-Structure Towers and Traditional Steel Towers

As wind turbines develop toward larger capacities and taller towers, traditional single-layer steel towers face issues such as high transportation costs and increased buckling risks. To address the lightweight design requirements of wind turbine towers, this paper systematically studies the static performance differences between sandwich structures and traditional steel towers. By establishing finite element models of an octagonal traditional tower and two sandwich-structured towers (8-4-0.8, 8-8-0.8), the impact of the number of core layers on structural stiffness and stress distribution is analyzed. Simulation results show that under different extreme conditions, the maximum displacement of the sandwich-structured towers is significantly reduced compared to traditional structures, the peak stress decreases, and increasing the number of core layers further improves bending stiffness and local stability. Therefore, sandwich structures, through “rigidity-flexibility synergy” topology optimization design, can break the traditional “height-cost” trade-off, providing theoretical support for the lightweight design and engineering application of tall towers.