Numerical and experimental investigation of modal-energy-based damage localization for offshore wind turbine structures

2018 ◽  
Vol 21 (10) ◽  
pp. 1510-1525 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yingchao Li ◽  
Min Zhang ◽  
Wenlong Yang

Offshore wind turbine structures are prone to deterioration and damage during their service life in harsh marine environment. To explore highly efficient and robust damage detection methods for offshore wind turbine structures, three well-known modal strain energy indices are reviewed first and then a new index named total modal energy method is proposed. The innovation of the new index is the simultaneous use of modal strain energy and modal kinetic energy. To investigate the feasibility and robustness of the four modal-energy-based methods, numerical and experimental studies are conducted on a tripod-type offshore wind turbine structure with simulated and measured data. It is indicated that all the four modal-energy-based methods work well with limited incomplete modal data, especially for the single-damage cases. While for the cases of multiple damage locations, the new total modal energy index significantly outperforms the traditional modal strain energy indices. Moreover, high robustness is shown for the indices, when the measured mode shapes of undamaged and damaged structures are polluted with the same noise level. However, when their noise levels have some difference, two of the modal strain energy indices turn invalid, but the new total modal energy index still shows stronger robustness. As frequencies are also used in the total modal energy index, its robustness to the noise in modal frequencies is also studied. It is shown that the results are slightly affected by the measurement noise in modal frequencies. Besides, the influence of finite element modeling errors is also investigated with both simulated and experimental data. Results show that all the four modal-energy-based methods are all very stable and insensitive to certain modeling errors. So, finite element model updating is not necessary in the test structure herein.

2018 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 101-106 ◽  
Author(s):  
Erfan Asnaashari ◽  
Andy Morris ◽  
Ian Andrew ◽  
Wolfgang Hahn ◽  
Jyoti K. Sinha

2019 ◽  
Vol 19 (4) ◽  
pp. 1017-1031 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ying Xu ◽  
George Nikitas ◽  
Tong Zhang ◽  
Qinghua Han ◽  
Marios Chryssanthopoulos ◽  
...  

The offshore wind turbines are dynamically sensitive, whose fundamental frequency can be very close to the forcing frequencies activated by the environmental and turbine loads. Minor changes of support conditions may lead to the shift of natural frequencies, and this could be disastrous if resonance happens. To monitor the support conditions and thus to enhance the safety of offshore wind turbines, a model updating method is developed in this study. A hybrid sensing system was fabricated and set up in the laboratory to investigate the long-term dynamic behaviour of the offshore wind turbine system with monopile foundation in sandy deposits. A finite element model was constructed to simulate structural behaviours of the offshore wind turbine system. Distributed nonlinear springs and a roller boundary condition are used to model the soil–structure interaction properties. The finite element model and the test results were used to analyse the variation of the support condition of the monopile, through an finite element model updating process using estimation of distribution algorithms. The results show that the fundamental frequency of the test model increases after a period under cyclic loading, which is attributed to the compaction of the surrounding sand instead of local damage of the structure. The hybrid sensing system is reliable to detect both the acceleration and strain responses of the offshore wind turbine model and can be potentially applied to the remote monitoring of real offshore wind turbines. The estimation of distribution algorithm–based model updating technique is demonstrated to be successful for the support condition monitoring of the offshore wind turbine system, which is potentially useful for other model updating and condition monitoring applications.


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.


2019 ◽  
Vol 141 (5) ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Tarfaoui ◽  
O. R. Shah ◽  
M. Nachtane

In order to obtain an optimal design of composite offshore wind turbine blade, take into account all the structural properties and the limiting conditions applied as close as possible to real cases. This work is divided into two stages: the aerodynamic design and the structural design. The optimal blade structural configuration was determined through a parametric study by using a finite element method. The skin thickness, thickness and width of the spar flange, and thickness, location, and length of the front and rear spar web were varied until design criteria were satisfied. The purpose of this article is to provide the designer with all the tools required to model and optimize the blades. The aerodynamic performance has been covered in this study using blade element momentum (BEM) method to calculate the loads applied to the turbine blade during service and extreme stormy conditions, and the finite element analysis was performed by using abaqus code to predict the most critical damage behavior and to apprehend and obtain knowledge of the complex structural behavior of wind turbine blades. The approach developed based on the nonlinear finite element analysis using mean values for the material properties and the failure criteria of Hashin to predict failure modes in large structures and to identify the sensitive zones.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Subham Kashyap ◽  
Nilanjan Saha ◽  
K. A. Abhinav

Abstract The present work studies the performance of an offshore wind turbine system in an earthquake coupled with wave and wind loading. The NREL 5 MW offshore wind turbine, supported on the OC4 jacket [14], has been analysed within a finite element framework. A coupled model of hydrodynamics and soil-structure interaction has been implemented. The structure-foundation system is analysed under earthquakes recorded close to offshore waters and at sites with shear-wave velocities, classified under Site-Class D or Site-Class E as per API RP: 2EQ [8]. The soil conditions emulate characteristics of a prospective offshore wind turbine site along the west coast of India, which falls within the Site-Class D classification mentioned above. The geotechnical modelling is done as per the soil curves prescribed by the non-linear Winkler springs along the pile’s length. The complete analysis has been processed in a finite-element framework through the commercial program USFOS [16]. The Hilbert-Huang transform [29] of the tower-responses suggests the increased vulnerability to the resonance phenomenon with 1P and 3P loading. It also suggests an involvement of higher modes in the tower-response. The change in the frequency of the structure-foundation system during and post-earthquake has also been studied.


Author(s):  
Serena Lim ◽  
Longbin Tao

Offshore wind energy development has gained considerable momentum around the world as wind is stronger and steadier offshore compared to land. This has led to a significant increase in production in recent years, especially offshore wind turbine embedded in shallow waters, such as the recent large scale offshore wind farms in the Northern Europe region. Being at the offshore waters, the wind turbines are subjected to harsh environment. The pile supporting the wind turbine must be reliable and able to withstand such sea condition. It is an important part of the design to study the structural behaviour of the piles under the wave loads. Due to the significant capital cost associated with the fabrication of the large circular cylinders, a new recommended innovative design to overcome such problem is to substitute the circular cylinder with a vertical monopile of octagonal cross-sectional shape. This paper describes the development of an efficient numerical model for structural analysis of wave interaction with octagonal pile using a modified semi analytical Scaled Boundary Finite Element Method (SBFEM). In contrast to the existing solutions obtained using the traditional methods such as the Finite Element Method (FEM) which typically suffer from high computational cost and the Boundary Element Method (BEM) which faces limitation from fundamental equations and problems with singularities. The most prominent advantage that SBFEM has over the FEM is in terms of the number of elements used for calculation and hence a reduction in computational time. When compared with BEM, the SBFEM does not suffer from computational stability problems.


2014 ◽  
Vol 13 (6) ◽  
pp. 644-659 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christof Devriendt ◽  
Filipe Magalhães ◽  
Wout Weijtjens ◽  
Gert De Sitter ◽  
Álvaro Cunha ◽  
...  

This article will present and discuss the approach and the first results of a long-term dynamic monitoring campaign on an offshore wind turbine in the Belgian North Sea. It focuses on the vibration levels and modal parameters of the fundamental modes of the support structure. These parameters are crucial to minimize the operation and maintenance costs and to extend the lifetime of offshore wind turbine structure and mechanical systems. In order to perform a proper continuous monitoring during operation, a fast and reliable solution, applicable on an industrial scale, has been developed. It will be shown that the use of appropriate vibration measurement equipment together with state-of-the art operational modal analysis techniques can provide accurate estimates of natural frequencies, damping ratios, and mode shapes of offshore wind turbines. The identification methods have been automated and their reliability has been improved, so that the system can track small changes in the dynamic behavior of offshore wind turbines. The advanced modal analysis tools used in this application include the poly-reference least squares complex frequency-domain estimator, commercially known as PolyMAX, and the covariance-driven stochastic subspace identification method. The implemented processing strategy will be demonstrated on data continuously collected during 2 weeks, while the wind turbine was idling or parked.


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