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Utvärdering av återanvändningspotentialen av vindkraftverkstorn Med fokus på gång- och cykelbroar

Jansson, Ludvig LU and Karlsson, Fredrik (2025) In 0349-4969 VBKM01 20251
Division of Structural Engineering
Abstract
Climate change is a fact, new innovations and solutions need to be applied to mitigate the effects
around the world. Greenhouse gases from burning fossil fuels are the primary cause of climate
change, one of them being carbon dioxide. There are many attempts to make a turn-around
regarding the use of fossil fuels and one of them is wind power. However, due to extreme loads
their service life is just around 20-30 years. In addition, a wind power plant is made of tons of
steel which has a heavily carbon dioxide emitting way of production. With this said, a wind
power plant in Sweden reaches its “energy pay back” time after just six to seven months.
We will investigate the possibility of reusing wind power plant towers as pedestrian... (More)
Climate change is a fact, new innovations and solutions need to be applied to mitigate the effects
around the world. Greenhouse gases from burning fossil fuels are the primary cause of climate
change, one of them being carbon dioxide. There are many attempts to make a turn-around
regarding the use of fossil fuels and one of them is wind power. However, due to extreme loads
their service life is just around 20-30 years. In addition, a wind power plant is made of tons of
steel which has a heavily carbon dioxide emitting way of production. With this said, a wind
power plant in Sweden reaches its “energy pay back” time after just six to seven months.
We will investigate the possibility of reusing wind power plant towers as pedestrian bridges, in
order to prolong the life of the steel tower of a wind power plant and reach higher in the waste
hierarchy after it reached its service life. This usually consists of several cycles of reuse as wind
towers followed by remelting. The investigation includes a life cycle analysis, a cost analysis
and a structural analysis. The life cycle and cost analyses are based on a literature study, while
the structural calculations have been carried out using simulations in the ABAQUS software as
well as design calculations according to Eurocode and the regulations of the Swedish Transport
Administration. Several alternative reuse options will also be briefly examined.
Results show that compared to a new bridge in steel the bridge from reused material uses less
carbon dioxide equivalents [measured in kg CO2e]. Regarding the cost of production, it is also
cheaper than an ordinary one, according to our analysis where materials, labour, and transport
are considered. Furthermore, structural analysis has determined that there are almost no
complications with structural behaviour, according to the phenomena we evaluated.
Although the mentioned advantages, there are several challenges left to be answered. Costs of
engineering are hard to evaluate together with uncertainties as lack of previous experience. To
get more precise and comparably results these costs are subjects which needs to be addressed
more and deeper understanding to.
In summary, the tower from a wind power plant enables a wide spectrum of reuse potential.
Though it’s a comparatively new field of studies which needs more research to confirm the
potential of reuse as a pedestrian bridge. (Less)
Popular Abstract (Swedish)
Vindkraften spelar en avgörande roll i den gröna omställningen. Men vad händer när
vindkraftverken nått slutet av sin livslängd? Tornen som består av enorma mängder stål
återbrukas i vissa fall efter renovering men efter två–tre gånger sätter de strukturella
förutsättningar stopp för återbruk och torndelarna i stål smälts oftast om till ”nytt stål”. En
process som kräver mycket
energi och resulterar i stora
klimatutsläpp beträffande
koldioxid. I stället för att
smälta ner stålet undersöks det
i detta arbete hur man kan
återbruka ståltvärsnitten till än
mer klimatsmarta lösningar,
nämligen gång- och
cykelbroar.

Resultaten är lovande; en bro byggd av återanvänt torn släpper ut betydligt mindre koldioxid
än en traditionell... (More)
Vindkraften spelar en avgörande roll i den gröna omställningen. Men vad händer när
vindkraftverken nått slutet av sin livslängd? Tornen som består av enorma mängder stål
återbrukas i vissa fall efter renovering men efter två–tre gånger sätter de strukturella
förutsättningar stopp för återbruk och torndelarna i stål smälts oftast om till ”nytt stål”. En
process som kräver mycket
energi och resulterar i stora
klimatutsläpp beträffande
koldioxid. I stället för att
smälta ner stålet undersöks det
i detta arbete hur man kan
återbruka ståltvärsnitten till än
mer klimatsmarta lösningar,
nämligen gång- och
cykelbroar.

Resultaten är lovande; en bro byggd av återanvänt torn släpper ut betydligt mindre koldioxid
än en traditionell gång- och cykelbro i stål. Dessutom blir den billigare att producera. De
strukturella beräkningarna visar att tornen har mer än tillräcklig bärighet för att klara de
belastningar en gång- och cykelbro utsätts för. Faktum är att de ofta blir överdimensionerade –
starkare än vad som egentligen behövs.
De strukturella egenskaperna en bro från ett vindkraftverk erhåller beror framför allt mycket på
hur man väljer att utforma bron. Ett vindkraftverkstorn är oftast uppbyggt av torndelar som
omkring 20 meter långa cylindrar, något som möjliggör diverse designer. I arbetet undersöks
att utvärdera tre alternativ som alla får godkänt sett till de krav som ställs.
Men det finns utmaningar, erfarenheten inom omvandlingen är ringa vilket bidrar till osäkra
parametrar, framför allt inom kostnad. Hur ska man bygga gångbanan som ligger som en vagga
i det cirkulära tvärsnittet och vilket material skall användas och hur ansluter man ett cirkulärt
tvärsnitt till ett brofäste?
Trots utmaningar pekar studien på en tydlig potential. Genom att återanvända
vindkraftverkstorn kan vi spara resurser, minska utsläppen och bygga broar med både
bokstavlig och symbolisk hållbarhet. Kanske cyklar vi i framtiden över broar som en gång stått
som energijättar på svenska fält. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
Jansson, Ludvig LU and Karlsson, Fredrik
supervisor
organization
alternative title
Assessment of the reuse potential of wind turbine towers Focusing on applications as pedestrian and bicycle bridges
course
VBKM01 20251
year
type
H3 - Professional qualifications (4 Years - )
subject
keywords
Reuse potential, Wind Turbine, Bridges
publication/series
0349-4969
report number
25/5311
ISSN
0349-4969
other publication id
LUTVDG/TVBK/25/5311
language
Swedish
additional info
Examinator: Jonas Niklewski
id
9214336
date added to LUP
2025-10-22 08:20:58
date last changed
2025-10-22 11:55:20
@misc{9214336,
  abstract     = {{Climate change is a fact, new innovations and solutions need to be applied to mitigate the effects
around the world. Greenhouse gases from burning fossil fuels are the primary cause of climate
change, one of them being carbon dioxide. There are many attempts to make a turn-around
regarding the use of fossil fuels and one of them is wind power. However, due to extreme loads
their service life is just around 20-30 years. In addition, a wind power plant is made of tons of
steel which has a heavily carbon dioxide emitting way of production. With this said, a wind
power plant in Sweden reaches its “energy pay back” time after just six to seven months.
We will investigate the possibility of reusing wind power plant towers as pedestrian bridges, in
order to prolong the life of the steel tower of a wind power plant and reach higher in the waste
hierarchy after it reached its service life. This usually consists of several cycles of reuse as wind
towers followed by remelting. The investigation includes a life cycle analysis, a cost analysis
and a structural analysis. The life cycle and cost analyses are based on a literature study, while
the structural calculations have been carried out using simulations in the ABAQUS software as
well as design calculations according to Eurocode and the regulations of the Swedish Transport
Administration. Several alternative reuse options will also be briefly examined.
Results show that compared to a new bridge in steel the bridge from reused material uses less
carbon dioxide equivalents [measured in kg CO2e]. Regarding the cost of production, it is also
cheaper than an ordinary one, according to our analysis where materials, labour, and transport
are considered. Furthermore, structural analysis has determined that there are almost no
complications with structural behaviour, according to the phenomena we evaluated.
Although the mentioned advantages, there are several challenges left to be answered. Costs of
engineering are hard to evaluate together with uncertainties as lack of previous experience. To
get more precise and comparably results these costs are subjects which needs to be addressed
more and deeper understanding to.
In summary, the tower from a wind power plant enables a wide spectrum of reuse potential.
Though it’s a comparatively new field of studies which needs more research to confirm the
potential of reuse as a pedestrian bridge.}},
  author       = {{Jansson, Ludvig and Karlsson, Fredrik}},
  issn         = {{0349-4969}},
  language     = {{swe}},
  note         = {{Student Paper}},
  series       = {{0349-4969}},
  title        = {{Utvärdering av återanvändningspotentialen av vindkraftverkstorn Med fokus på gång- och cykelbroar}},
  year         = {{2025}},
}