Numerical analysis of lateral – Moment capacity of bucket foundations for offshore wind turbine in sand

This paper reports the lateral – moment bearing capacity of bucket foundations under lateral loading in sand. The Modified Mohr-Coulomb (MMC) model is adopted to capture the hardening – softening behaviour in medium dense and dense sands within a finite element (FE) modelling framework. The FE model performance is assessed against available field test data as well as analytical solutions showing a relatively good agreement. A series of parametric study is conducted to investigate the effects of bucket aspect ratio, bucket diameter, load eccentricity, vertical load and relative density of sand on the lateral - moment bearing capacity of the bucket. Comparisons are drawn between the conventional Mohr-Coulomb (MC) model and the stress dependent MMC model highlighting the role of sand dilatancy in mobilising the lateral moment capacity. Based on the FE results, a simple stepwise calculation framework is proposed for two scenarios: (i) to predict the lateral - moment bearing capacity of the bucket if the bucket dimensions are known, and (ii) to design the bucket dimensions for a known required bucket capacity.     

Accelerated second-order hydrodynamic load calculation on semi-submersible floaters

A rapid method for calculation of second-order hydrodynamic wave loads on semi-submersible platforms is developed and validated against radiation–diffraction theory. The method is based on slender-body theory and builds on modal truncation of the quadratic transfer function (QTF). The semi-submersible floater is split into individual members and the existing theory for vertical cylindrical columns is extended to include the heave force. Further expressions for the surge, heave and pitch load on the horizontal pontoons are derived and implemented. The accuracy of the method is assessed by comparison to radiation–diffraction results using the Pinkster approximation. We find that the slender-body approximation for the column surge force is most accurate for small values of the diameter-to-draft ratio. For the three sea states considered, this error is below 10% for diameter-to-draft ratios less than 0.2.Error analysis is provided for the column heave and pitch and the pontoon loads. For all members, application of 128 modes in the QTF approximation is found sufficient to accurately represent the full slender-body QTF solution.Next, the first- and second-order loads on the full floater under different sea state conditions are compared to radiation–diffraction theory. With 128 modes, the second-order loads are obtained 2500 times faster than with conventional approaches with error levels of 22% for surge, 10% for pitch and zero error for heave. The surge error is discussed and linked to the small draft of the columns. The numerical efficiency of the method allows the consideration of second-order loads in the first stages of the design and optimisation of semi-submersible floaters.     

半潜浮式风机的动力响应分析

OC4半潜浮式风机综合性能较好，但其浮式基础结构质量和结构复杂性使其建造成本高昂，而WindFloat半潜浮式风机浮式基础具有结构简单、建造成本低和减摇效果好等优点，但是适应水深较小且只适合特定海域。结合OC4和WindFloat半潜浮式风机浮式基础的结构特点，针对200 m水深环境设计OC4-WindFloat半潜浮式风机基础。基于叶素理论、莫里森公式和势流理论，通过有限元软件对OC4-WindFloat半潜浮式风机的固有周期及风浪联合作用下的动态响应进行耦合分析，并与OC4半潜浮式风机结果进行对比研究。结果显示，OC4-WindFloat半潜浮式风机固有周期及动态响应均满足相关规定，且具有比OC4更低的建造成本，相比WindFloat可适用更深的海域。研究结果对于浮式基础型式研究有一定的指导意义。     

Dynamic response of a SWATH vessel for installing pre-assembled floating wind turbines

New and efficient installation concepts which can reduce the cost of developing an offshore wind farm are of particular interest. This paper explores a promising concept using the small water-plane area twin-hull vessel (SWATH) to install pre-assembled wind turbines (OWT) onto floating spar foundations. A focus is placed on the hydrodynamic performance of the SWATH and the response analysis of the coupled SWATH-spar system. Firstly, the numerically calculated difference-frequency wave force effect and damping forces of the original SWATH were verified with experimental data. Secondly, the original SWATH was modified to satisfy the criteria of weight-carrying capacity and hydrostatic stability. Thirdly, a multibody numerical model for the SWATH-spar system was developed, in which the hydrodynamic and mechanical couplings between the SWATH and a spar were considered. The SWATH is equipped with a dynamic positioning system to counteract the slow-drift wave force effects. The nonlinear time-domain simulations were carried out for the mating stage when a wind turbine is lifted above the spar foundation. Based on the analysis of statistics of the relative displacement and velocity of the tower bottom and the spar top, the installation concept with SWATH is found to be of decent performance. Finally, recommendations are provided for future research on this concept, which contributes to developing next-generation installation concepts for bottom-fixed and floating wind farms.     

Field data observations for monitoring the impact of typhoon “In-fa” on dynamic performances of mono-pile offshore wind turbines: A novel systematic study

For offshore structures such as offshore wind turbines (OWT), typhoon is usually considered one of the most critical threats to structural safety performances and service life due to its heavy wind, wave, and even coexisted storm surge. Meanwhile, it is challenging to obtain the systematic data from the environmental conditions, structural dynamic vibrations and the SCADA record, when typhoon passes by the offshore wind farm. Taking into account these situations, a real-time multi-source monitoring system enabling the investigation of the typhoon impact on the performances of OWT, has been firstly established and implemented to a 4.0 MW mono-pile OWT in Rudong, Jiangsu, China. One of the major contributions in this work is to develop the monitoring system using a unique environment of real-world data that has been synchronously obtained from waves, winds, vibrational accelerations, inclinations of towers and SCADA data during the typhoon “In-fa” passing by the wind farm, and provide the scientific community with the underlying standards and technical recommendations. To investigate the influence caused by “In-fa”, comparison results of the measured data in the range of June to August have been analysed. It is worth noting that two conclusions have been obtained: (1) the region near the nacelle is not always the most critical vibrational area. Actually, the change of the maximum structural response in the position under different external loads should be applied to effectively evaluate the structural safety; (2) the measured accelerations exhibit an obvious decay process in the presence of the turbine rotor-stop, but not the yaw rigid-body motion. This observation promotes the accurate identification of modal parameters for the long-term monitoring. Consequently, these valuable findings to facilitate the assessment of structural operational conditions have been developed into two guide-lines. All the data and analyses presented in this paper provide a valuable insight into the design, energy efficiency, safety monitoring and damage diagnosis of OWT structures.     

概念设计阶段的邮船横移操纵性评估方法

为准确评估邮船的横移操纵性，对概念阶段的某中型邮船的横移抗风性展开研究。考虑邮船上层建筑高大的特点，在由侧推器、螺旋桨、舵所组成的横移平衡计算模型中，增加风载荷及力矩，并依据现有的初步设备参数，计算13个风向角所能承受的最大风速，预测邮船在码头的横移抗风操纵性能力。通过实例计算验证，此评估方法能够清晰便捷地评估邮船在不同风况下的横移抗风能力，为邮船概念设计阶段的横移操纵性提供重要支撑。     

基于某风电工程的中空式承台抗弯承载力研究

风能具有清洁、储量丰富且可再生的特点，发展风电技术是推进“碳中和、碳达峰”的重要举措。现基于某风电工程，运用有限元数值分析对中空式风电承台的抗弯承载力进行研究。对弯矩作用下中空式承台的内力分布特征进行分析，着重研究了承台配筋对结构抗弯承载力的影响，并针对性地提出了配筋优化方案，有效提高了中空式承台的极限抗弯承载力，为设计和施工提供一定的理论支撑。     

Underactuated control and analysis of single blade installation using a jackup installation vessel and active tugger line force control

The assembly and installation costs account for a large share in the overall expenditures of an offshore wind farm project. Single blade installation is suitable for large scale wind turbines due to the lower crane capability requirement and lower transportation time. By introducing active tension control on the tugger lines, an automatic single blade installation approach can accomplish operations in higher sea states, reduce the waiting-on-weather time, and improve the operational efficiency. Compared to early research, a more complicated control objective is achieved in this paper, i.e., a two-tugger-line configuration is applied to stabilize the suspended blade in three degrees of freedom during crane rotation and blade root-hub mating processes. The pulleys on the crane boom, i.e., the ends of the tugger lines, are assumed to be fixedly placed, resulting in tugger line time-varying inclinations. A novel backstepping-like controller is designed and proved. It is able to stabilize the blade around its equilibrium and make it track the desired path. Sensitivity studies are conducted to evaluate the influence of the tugger line inclinations. In addition, the influence of the installed blades on a three-blade horizontal wind turbine with a monopile foundation is discussed. The proposed active control setup improves the installation success rate and reduces the risks for blade impacts that may occur during mating.