Dynamic Mudline Damping for Offshore Wind Turbine Monopiles

Author(s):  
Wystan Carswell ◽  
Jörgen Johansson ◽  
Finn Løvholt ◽  
Sanjay R. Arwade ◽  
Don J. DeGroot

Fatigue is often a design driver for large (e.g. 5–10 MW) offshore wind turbines (OWTs), necessitating a thorough examination of damping sources: aerodynamic, hydrodynamic, structural, and soil. Of these sources, soil damping has been least considered by researchers with respect to OWTs. Aeroelastic programs, such as the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) code FAST, are typically used for time history analysis of aerodynamic and hydrodynamic loads experienced by OWTs. To take into account foundation flexibility while minimizing computational expense, reduced-order foundation models such as the mudline stiffness matrix are often used. Mudline stiffness and damping matrices are derived here for the NREL 5MW reference turbine. By recompiling FAST with mudline stiffness and damping matrices, the contribution of soil damping to OWT dynamic behavior is then quantified by comparing time history analysis results including and excluding soil damping.

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Auraluck Pichitkul ◽  
Lakshmi N. Sankar

Abstract Wind engineering technology has been continuously investigated and developed over the past several decades in response to steadily growing demand for renewable energy resources, in order to meet the increased demand for power production, fixed and floating platforms with different mooring configurations have been fielded, accommodating large-scale offshore wind turbines in deep water areas. In this study, the aerodynamic loads on such systems are modeled using a computational structural dynamics solver called OpenFAST developed by National Renewable Energy Laboratory, coupled to an in-house computational fluid dynamics solver called GT-Hybrid. Coupling of the structural/aerodynamic motion time history with the CFD analysis is done using an open File I/O process. At this writing, only a one-way coupling has been attempted, feeding the blade motion and structural deformations from OpenFAST into the fluid dynamics analysis. The sectional aerodynamic loads for a large scale 5 MW offshore wind turbine are presented, and compared against the baseline OpenFAST simulations with classical blade element-momentum theory. Encouraging agreement has been observed.


Energies ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (23) ◽  
pp. 6407
Author(s):  
Niccolo Bruschi ◽  
Giulio Ferri ◽  
Enzo Marino ◽  
Claudio Borri

The spar buoy platform for offshore wind turbines is the most utilized type and the OC3 Hywind system design is largely used in research. This system is usually moored with three catenary cables with 120° between each other. Adding clump weights to the mooring lines has an influence on the platform response and on the mooring line tension. However, the optimal choice for their position and weight is still an open issue, especially considering the multitude of sea states the platform can be exposed to. In this study, therefore, an analysis on the influence of two such variables on the platform response and on the mooring line tension is presented. FAST by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) is used to perform time domain simulations and Response Amplitude Operators are adopted as the main indicators of the clump weights effects. Results show that the clump weight mass is not as influential as the position, which turns out to be optimal, especially for the Surge degree of freedom, when closest to the platform.


Energies ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (15) ◽  
pp. 3915
Author(s):  
Saleh Jalbi ◽  
Joseph Hilton ◽  
Luke Jacques

Monopiles supporting offshore wind turbines can experience permanent non-recoverable rotations (or displacements) during their lifetime due to the cyclic nature of hydrodynamic and aerodynamic loading exerted on them. Recent studies in the literature have demonstrated that conventional cyclic p–y curves recommended in different codes of practice (API-RP-2GEO and DNVGL-RP-C212) may not capture the effects of long-term cyclic loads as they are independent of the loading profile and the number of applied cycles. Several published methodologies based on laboratory scaled model tests (on sands) exist to determine the effect of cyclic lateral loads on the long-term behaviour of piles. The tests vary in terms of the pile behaviour (rigid or flexible pile), number of applied loading cycles, and the load profile (one-way or two-way loading). The best-fit curves provided by these tests offer practical and cost-efficient methods to quantify the accumulated rotations when compared to Finite Element Method. It is therefore desirable that such methods are further developed to take into account different soil types and the complex nature of the loading. The objective of this paper is to compare the performance of the available formulations under the actions of a typical 35-h (hour) storm as per the Bundesamt für Seeschifffahrt und Hydrographie (BSH) recommendations. Using classical rain flow counting, the loading time-history is discretized into load packets where each packet has a loading profile and number of cycles, which then enables the computation of an equivalent number of cycles of the largest load packet. The results show that the loading profile plays a detrimental role in the result of the accumulated rotation. Furthermore, flexibility of the pile also has an important effect on the response of the pile where predictions obtained from formulations based on flexible piles resulted in a much lower accumulated rotation than tests based on rigid piles. Finally, the findings of this paper are expected to contribute in the design and interpretation of future experimental frameworks for Offshore Wind Turbine (OWT) monopiles in sands, which will include a more realistic loading profile, number of cycles, and relative soil to pile stiffness.


Author(s):  
Shuai Cong ◽  
Sau-Lon James Hu ◽  
Hua-Jun Li

Abstract As the vibration analysis of an offshore wind turbine (OWT) system should consider its soil-structure interaction, a recent article proposed a simple soil-structure interface model. It includes a horizontal spring, a rotational spring and a rotational dash-pot at the interface. Developing a finite element model updating method on correcting the soil-structure interface coefficients based on the true response measurements is highly desired. This paper develops an accurate and efficient model updating method for simultaneously updating the stiffness and damping parameters of the soil-structure interface of a monopiled offshore wind turbine, when only a few measured modal frequencies and damping ratios are available. The performance of the proposed method is numerically demonstrated through a simulated National Renewable Energy Laboratory 5-MW (NREL 5-MW) reference turbine.


2014 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Nidiasari Jati Sunaryati Eem Ikhsan

Struktur rangka baja pemikul momen merupakan jenis struktur baja tahan gempa yang populer digunakan. Daktilitas struktur yang tinggi merupakan salah satu keunggulan struktur ini, sehingga mampu menahan deformasi inelastik yang besar. Dalam desain, penggunaan metode desain elastis berupa evaluasi non-linear static (Pushover analysis) maupun evaluasi non-linear analisis (Time History Analysis) masih digunakan sebagai dasar perencanaan meskipun perilaku struktur sebenarnya saat kondisi inelastik tidak dapat digambarkan dengan baik. Metode Performance-Based Plastic Design (PBPD) berkembang untuk melihat perilaku struktur sebenarnya dengan cara menetapkan terlebih dahulu simpangan dan mekanisme leleh struktur sehingga gaya geser dasar yang digunakan adalah sama dengan usaha yang dibutuhkan untuk mendorong struktur hingga tercapai simpangan yang telah direncanakan. Studi dilakukan terhadap struktur baja 5 lantai yang diberi beban gempa berdasarkan SNI 1726, 2012 dan berdasarkan metode PBPD. Hasil analisa menunjukkan bahwa struktur yang diberi gaya gempa berdasarkan metode PBPD mencapai simpangan maksimum sesuai simpangan rencana dan kinerja struktur yang dihasilkan lebih baik .


Author(s):  
Jose´ G. Rangel-Rami´rez ◽  
John D. So̸rensen

Deterioration processes such as fatigue and corrosion are typically affecting offshore structures. To “control” this deterioration, inspection and maintenance activities are developed. Probabilistic methodologies represent an important tool to identify the suitable strategy to inspect and control the deterioration in structures such as offshore wind turbines (OWT). Besides these methods, the integration of condition monitoring information (CMI) can optimize the mitigation activities as an updating tool. In this paper, a framework for risk-based inspection and maintenance planning (RBI) is applied for OWT incorporating CMI, addressing this analysis to fatigue prone details in welded steel joints at jacket or tripod steel support structures for offshore wind turbines. The increase of turbulence in wind farms is taken into account by using a code-based turbulence model. Further, additional modes t integrate CMI in the RBI approach for optimal planning of inspection and maintenance. As part of the results, the life cycle reliabilities and inspection times are calculated, showing that earlier inspections are needed at in-wind farm sites. This is expected due to the wake turbulence increasing the wind load. With the integration of CMI by means Bayesian inference, a slightly change of first inspection times are coming up, influenced by the reduction of the uncertainty and harsher or milder external agents.


2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 574
Author(s):  
Rundong Yan ◽  
Sarah Dunnett

In order to improve the operation and maintenance (O&M) of offshore wind turbines, a new Petri net (PN)-based offshore wind turbine maintenance model is developed in this paper to simulate the O&M activities in an offshore wind farm. With the aid of the PN model developed, three new potential wind turbine maintenance strategies are studied. They are (1) carrying out periodic maintenance of the wind turbine components at different frequencies according to their specific reliability features; (2) conducting a full inspection of the entire wind turbine system following a major repair; and (3) equipping the wind turbine with a condition monitoring system (CMS) that has powerful fault detection capability. From the research results, it is found that periodic maintenance is essential, but in order to ensure that the turbine is operated economically, this maintenance needs to be carried out at an optimal frequency. Conducting a full inspection of the entire wind turbine system following a major repair enables efficient utilisation of the maintenance resources. If periodic maintenance is performed infrequently, this measure leads to less unexpected shutdowns, lower downtime, and lower maintenance costs. It has been shown that to install the wind turbine with a CMS is helpful to relieve the burden of periodic maintenance. Moreover, the higher the quality of the CMS, the more the downtime and maintenance costs can be reduced. However, the cost of the CMS needs to be considered, as a high cost may make the operation of the offshore wind turbine uneconomical.


2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (5) ◽  
pp. 543
Author(s):  
Jiawen Li ◽  
Jingyu Bian ◽  
Yuxiang Ma ◽  
Yichen Jiang

A typhoon is a restrictive factor in the development of floating wind power in China. However, the influences of multistage typhoon wind and waves on offshore wind turbines have not yet been studied. Based on Typhoon Mangkhut, in this study, the characteristics of the motion response and structural loads of an offshore wind turbine are investigated during the travel process. For this purpose, a framework is established and verified for investigating the typhoon-induced effects of offshore wind turbines, including a multistage typhoon wave field and a coupled dynamic model of offshore wind turbines. On this basis, the motion response and structural loads of different stages are calculated and analyzed systematically. The results show that the maximum response does not exactly correspond to the maximum wave or wind stage. Considering only the maximum wave height or wind speed may underestimate the motion response during the traveling process of the typhoon, which has problems in guiding the anti-typhoon design of offshore wind turbines. In addition, the coupling motion between the floating foundation and turbine should be considered in the safety evaluation of the floating offshore wind turbine under typhoon conditions.


2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (6) ◽  
pp. 589
Author(s):  
Subhamoy Bhattacharya ◽  
Domenico Lombardi ◽  
Sadra Amani ◽  
Muhammad Aleem ◽  
Ganga Prakhya ◽  
...  

Offshore wind turbines are a complex, dynamically sensitive structure due to their irregular mass and stiffness distribution, and complexity of the loading conditions they need to withstand. There are other challenges in particular locations such as typhoons, hurricanes, earthquakes, sea-bed currents, and tsunami. Because offshore wind turbines have stringent Serviceability Limit State (SLS) requirements and need to be installed in variable and often complex ground conditions, their foundation design is challenging. Foundation design must be robust due to the enormous cost of retrofitting in a challenging environment should any problem occur during the design lifetime. Traditionally, engineers use conventional types of foundation systems, such as shallow gravity-based foundations (GBF), suction caissons, or slender piles or monopiles, based on prior experience with designing such foundations for the oil and gas industry. For offshore wind turbines, however, new types of foundations are being considered for which neither prior experience nor guidelines exist. One of the major challenges is to develop a method to de-risk the life cycle of offshore wind turbines in diverse metocean and geological conditions. The paper, therefore, has the following aims: (a) provide an overview of the complexities and the common SLS performance requirements for offshore wind turbine; (b) discuss the use of physical modelling for verification and validation of innovative design concepts, taking into account all possible angles to de-risk the project; and (c) provide examples of applications in scaled model tests.


Author(s):  
Fatemeh Jalayer ◽  
Hossein Ebrahimian ◽  
Andrea Miano

AbstractThe Italian code requires spectrum compatibility with mean spectrum for a suite of accelerograms selected for time-history analysis. Although these requirements define minimum acceptability criteria, it is likely that code-based non-linear dynamic analysis is going to be done based on limited number of records. Performance-based safety-checking provides formal basis for addressing the record-to-record variability and the epistemic uncertainties due to limited number of records and in the estimation of the seismic hazard curve. “Cloud Analysis” is a non-linear time-history analysis procedure that employs the structural response to un-scaled ground motion records and can be directly implemented in performance-based safety-checking. This paper interprets the code-based provisions in a performance-based key and applies further restrictions to spectrum-compatible record selection aiming to implement Cloud Analysis. It is shown that, by multiplying a closed-form coefficient, code-based safety ratio could be transformed into simplified performance-based safety ratio. It is shown that, as a proof of concept, if the partial safety factors in the code are set to unity, this coefficient is going to be on average slightly larger than unity. The paper provides the basis for propagating the epistemic uncertainties due to limited sample size and in the seismic hazard curve to the performance-based safety ratio both in a rigorous and simplified manner. If epistemic uncertainties are considered, the average code-based safety checking could end up being unconservative with respect to performance-based procedures when the number of records is small. However, it is shown that performance-based safety checking is possible with no extra structural analyses.


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