Creep analysis of cementitious materials in seawater using a poro-chemo-mechanical model

With the rapid growth of the offshore engineering sector, studying the durability of offshore structures becomes primordial. Evaluating experimentally the coupling between mechanical and chemical degradation of the cement-based materials and structures is a challenging task because it requires tracking the evolution of the micro-mechanisms associated with the degradation in real time for long periods. To tackle this issue, a numerical approach is proposed, based on the micromechanics and the coupling between a creep-damage model and a chemical model at the microstructural scale. The seawater chemical effect on cement paste is simulated by considering the penetration fronts of the aggressive water and the attack by layers in the material. The aim of this study is to provide a tool for the rapid mechanical evaluation of the offshore structures and therefore a tool that can be used for the optimization and the development of durable marine constructions. The results highlight the competition between protective and damaged layers formed due to seawater attack, and that the global mechanical behaviour strongly depends on the chemically modified phases in the cement paste.     

Efficient optimization design method of jacket structures for offshore wind turbines

With the gradual implementation of offshore wind energy production, the future tendency is to expand into the deeper water. The jacket foundations will take the place of the present monopile foundations when the water depth increases. The foundations account for the majority of the construction cost for offshore wind farms, and the structural optimization of jackets will bring lucrative economic benefits. Structural optimization is a complex iterative process that requires huge computing costs. Therefore, this paper proposes a structural optimization method based on surrogate models to solve this problem effectively and swiftly obtain optimized design schemes of lightweight jackets for offshore wind turbines. The structural responses of jacket wind turbine systems under the equivalent static extreme loads with a recurrence period of 50 years are mainly considered in structural optimization design, and the key optimization variables of jackets are determined by parameter sensitivity analysis. The finite element models of jackets are transformed into surrogate models, and the genetic algorithm is employed to optimize the surrogate models directly. The optimized jackets are additionally verified through coupled dynamic analysis, besides, buckling strength and fatigue life are also checked. And local refined optimizations are carried out for the failure members. According to the optimized design schemes of lightweight jackets for 30 m, 50 m and 70 m water depths, it is demonstrated that the structural optimization design method is adequate and efficient for jackets of wind turbines. Parameter sensitivity analysis can cut the number of optimization variables in half to improve the optimization efficiency. Furthermore, the application of surrogate models can significantly speed up the optimization process by saving about 98.61% of the original time consumed. The optimization design method of the jackets for offshore wind turbines proposed in this paper is suitable for practical engineering, with high precision and efficiency.     

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.     

Required test durations for converged short-term wave and impact extreme value statistics–Part 2: Deck box dataset

In the assessment of wave-in-deck loads for new and existing maritime structures typically model tests are carried out. To determine the most critical conditions and measure sufficient impact loads, a range of sea states and various seeds (realisations) for each sea state are tested. Based on these measurements, probability distributions can be derived and design loads determined. In air gap model testing usually only few, if any, impact loads occur per 3-hour seed. This can make it challenging to derive reliable probability distributions of the measured loads, especially when only a few seeds are generated. In addition wave impact forces, such as greenwater loading, slamming, or air gap impacts are typically strongly non-linear, resulting in a large variability of the measured loads. This results in the following questions: How many impacts are needed to derive a reliable distribution? How is the repeatability of individual events affecting the overall distribution? To answer these questions wave-in-deck model tests were carried out in 100 x 3-hour realisations of a 10,000 year North Sea sea state. The resulting probability distributions of the undisturbed wave measurements as well as the measured wave-in-deck loads are presented in this paper with focus on deriving the number of seeds and exposure durations required for a reliable estimate of design loads.The presented study is Part 2 of a combined study on guidance for the convergence and variability of wave crests and impact loading extreme values. The data set of Part 1 ([1]) is based on greenwater loads on a sailing ferry and the data set of Part 2 on wave-in-deck loads on a stationary deck box.     

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.     

Fatigue tests on grouted connection segment specimens in offshore wind turbine structures considering water ingression

Grouted connections (GCs) are widely used to connect superstructures and driven piles in offshore wind turbine structures. They resist fatigue loading in marine splash zones and even submerged environments. In this paper, six GC segment specimens were designed and tested under fatigue loading in both the air and water ingression conditions. The results in the air condition showed that for the specimens with lower loading ranges, the strain distributions and residual displacements stabilized after 20 thousand load cycles. These conditions persisted until the end of the test with two million cycles, with only a few tiny cracks appearing on the grout material surface. Meanwhile, wide cracks and grout material exfoliation were found in specimens with higher loading ranges. The residual displacement accumulated gradually, which eventually caused the termination of the test when it reached 5 mm after 1.3 million cycles. The results in the water ingression condition showed that the water had entered into the micro-cracks of the grout material, which severely degraded the fatigue behavior of the GC specimens. Even in lower loading ranges, specimens W-1 and W-2 only endured 0.264 million and 64 thousand load cycles before the displacement of the top clamp reached −10 mm. Compared with two specimens tested in the air, with a total displacement of less than −0.7 mm after two million load cycles, the severe deteriorating effect of water ingression on the fatigue behavior of GCs was apparent.