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.     

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.