Structural safety improvement of offshore tall wind turbines under wind and wave loadings

Project Information

OFFSHORE TALL TOWER

Grant agreement ID: 793316

DOI

10.3030/793316

Project closed

EC signature date 21 March 2018

Start date 14 February 2019

End date 13 February 2021

Funded under

• EXCELLENT SCIENCE - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions

Total cost

€ 183 454,80

EU contribution

€ 183 454,80

Coordinated by

THE UNIVERSITY OF BIRMINGHAM
United Kingdom

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - OFFSHORE TALL TOWER (Structural safety improvement of offshore tall wind turbines under wind and wave loadings)

Reporting period: 2019-02-14 to 2021-02-13

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

What is the problem/issue being addressed?
An experimental setup has been designed and is being manufactured. An experimental has been planned to study the structural response of offshore wind turbine tower under the combination of wind and wave loadings.

Why is it important for society?
This project will provide a novel methodology to study offshore tall wind turbine tower under waves and winds which can be used for optimization of offshore wind turbine manufacture and that will change wind energy policy. This will contribute to energy resilience that is one of the principal factors for sustainable and resilient development.

What are the overall objectives?
1)To explore the effect of wave loadings on the structural response of steel wind turbine tower in complicated ocean environments
2)To monitor and analyze the mechanical behavior of steel wind turbine towers under wind and wave loadings
3)To study the vibration characteristics of steel wind turbine towers

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

1. Three groups of offshore tower FE models with various variables including different tower heights, stiffness ring spacing and slope angles under wave and wind loadings is performed for the analysis of wind turbine tower under wind and wave loadings.
2. A scale-down tower model was manufactured by one factory as the experimental specimen, the laboratory can simulate the marine environment including wind, wave and current.
3. Various loading states involving wind-wave, wind-current, wave-current, wind-wave-current to measure the displacement, velocity and acceleration of the tower model at three points on the tower wall respectively.
4. The statistical analysis was performed to explore the effect of marine environment on the dynamic response of offshore tower model.

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

1. This project for offshore wind energy structures will perform advanced numerical and experimental analysis of wind energy structures and develop a simplified numerical model to explore the critical mechanical characteristics of the offshore wind turbine tower structure.
2. The project can be proposed a FE model of offshore wind turbine towers in marine environment.

The experimental facility