Effect of Pile-Soil Interaction on Structural Dynamics of Large MW Scale Offshore Wind Turbines in Shallow-Water Western GOM

Author(s):  
Ling Ling Yin ◽  
King Him Lo ◽  
Su Su Wang

The effect of pile-soil interaction on structural dynamics is investigated for a large offshore wind turbine in the hurricane-prone Western Gulf of Mexico (GOM) shallow water. The offshore wind turbine has a rotor with three 100-meter blades and a mono-tower structure. Loads on the turbine rotor and the support structure subject to a 100-year return hurricane are determined. Several types of soil are considered and modeled with a distributed spring system. The results reveal that pile-soil interaction affects dynamics of the turbine support structure significantly, but not the wind rotor dynamics. Designed with proper pile lengths, natural frequencies of the turbine structure in different soils stay outside dominant frequencies of wave energy spectra in both normal operating and hurricane sea states, but stay between blade passing frequency intervals. Hence potential resonance of the turbine support structure is not of concern. A comprehensive Campbell diagram is constructed for safe operation of the offshore turbine in different soils.

2015 ◽  
Vol 137 (6) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ling Ling Yin ◽  
King Him Lo ◽  
Su Su Wang

The effect of pile–soil interaction on structural dynamics is investigated for a large offshore wind turbine (OWT) in the hurricane-prone Western Gulf of Mexico (GOM) shallow water. The OWT has a rotor with three 100-meter blades and a monotower structure. Loads on the turbine rotor and the support structure subject to a 100-year return hurricane are determined. Several types of soil are considered and modeled with a distributed spring system. The results reveal that pile–soil interaction affects dynamics of the turbine support structure significantly, but not the rotor dynamics. Designed with proper pile lengths, natural frequencies of the turbine structure in different soils stay outside dominant frequencies of wave energy spectra in both normal operating and hurricane sea states, but stay between blade passing frequency intervals. Hence, potential resonance of the turbine support structure is not of concern. A comprehensive Campbell diagram is constructed for safe operation of the offshore turbine in different soils.


Author(s):  
Ling Ling Yin ◽  
King Him Lo ◽  
Su Su Wang

In this paper, a study is conducted on wind and metocean loads and associated structural dynamics of a 13.2-MW large offshore wind turbine in Western Gulf of Mexico (GOM) shallow water. The offshore wind turbine considered includes a rotor with three 100-meter long blades and a mono-tower support structure. Natural frequencies and mode shapes of the blades and the mono-tower are determined first and used subsequently to establish a Campbell diagram for safe wind turbine operation. The results show that hydrodynamic added mass has little effect on the natural frequencies and mode shapes of the support structure but it introduces, in part, appreciable effects on loads carried by the turbine when the blades are pitched at wind speeds above the rated speed. Also determined, for normal operation and extreme metocean conditions (i.e., 100-year return hurricanes), are normal thrust on the wind rotor, blade-tip displacement, overturning moment and tower-top displacement sustained by the wind turbine.


Author(s):  
Ling Ling Yin ◽  
King Him Lo ◽  
Su Su Wang

To determine the optimal park configuration of a large offshore turbine in a hurricane, a study is conducted on effects of blade pitch and rotor yaw, and wind–wave misalignment, in a 100-year return hurricane on a 13.2-MW large offshore wind turbine (OWT) in western Gulf of Mexico (GOM) shallow water. The OWT structure considered includes a rotor with three 100-m long blades and a monotower support structure. Maximum loads on the wind turbine are determined with blade pitch and rotor yaw, with and without wind–wave misalignment in the 100-year return hurricane. The results show that effects of blade pitch and rotor yaw on turbine structural dynamics are significant, whereas the effect of wind–wave misalignment is small in the context of structural design in strength. The study provides deep insight to wind turbine dynamics and its structural design in the extreme hurricane.


2013 ◽  
Vol 569-570 ◽  
pp. 652-659 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gert de Sitter ◽  
Wout Weitjens ◽  
Mahmoud El-Kafafy ◽  
Christof Devriendt

This paper will show the first results of a long term monitoring campaign on an offshore wind turbine in the Belgian North Sea. It will focus on the vibration levels and resonant frequencies of the fundamental modes of the support structure. These parameters will be crucial to minimize O&M costs and to extend the lifetime of offshore wind turbine structures. For monopile foundations for example, scouring and reduction in foundation integrity over time are especially problematic because they reduce the fundamental structural resonance of the support structure, aligning that resonance frequency more closely to the lower frequencies. Since both the broadband wave energy and the rotating frequency of the turbine are contained in this low frequency band, the lower natural frequency can create resonant behavior increasing fatigue damage. Continuous monitoring of the effect of scour on the dynamics of the wind turbine will help to optimize the maintenance activities on the scour protection system. To allow a proper continuous monitoring during operation, reliable state-of-the-art operational modal analysis techniques should be used and these are presented in this paper. The methods are also automated, so that no human-interaction is required and the system can track the natural frequencies and damping ratios in a reliable manner.


Energies ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 11 (10) ◽  
pp. 2578 ◽  
Author(s):  
Krishnamoorthi Sivalingam ◽  
Steven Martin ◽  
Abdulqadir Singapore Wala

Aerodynamic performance of a floating offshore wind turbine (FOWT) is significantly influenced by platform surging motions. Accurate prediction of the unsteady aerodynamic loads is imperative for determining the fatigue life, ultimate loads on key components such as FOWT rotor blades, gearbox and power converter. The current study examines the predictions of numerical codes by comparing with unsteady experimental results of a scaled floating wind turbine rotor. The influence of platform surge amplitude together with the tip speed ratio on the unsteady aerodynamic loading has been simulated through unsteady CFD. It is shown that the unsteady aerodynamic loads of FOWT are highly sensitive to the changes in frequency and amplitude of the platform motion. Also, the surging motion significantly influences the windmill operating state due to strong flow interaction between the rotating blades and generated blade-tip vortices. Almost in all frequencies and amplitudes, CFD, LR-BEM and LR-uBEM predictions of mean thrust shows a good correlation with experimental results.


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