CORDIS provides links to public deliverables and publications of HORIZON projects.
Links to deliverables and publications from FP7 projects, as well as links to some specific result types such as dataset and software, are dynamically retrieved from OpenAIRE .
Exploitable results
Scientific aspects of the result:
The newly introduced requirement in general wind turbine standards (IEC 61400-1) of assessment of extreme load effects during normal operation by use of extrapolation methods ideally requires enormous amounts of simulations. Investigations have been carried out in order to determine possible simplifications.
Social and commercial aspects of the result:
There has been an immediate need for the project. Currently and over the next few years, the expansion in offshore wind energy, especially in Europe, accelerates and at project start there were no thorough and coherent guidelines for the design of offshore wind power plants. The existing offshore standards are not suitable to cover the offshore wind energy technology.
A combination of these offshore standards and the existing onshore wind energy standards is a very complex process and significant technology gaps exist. One of the major tasks of the project has been the attempt to combine the practices of wind turbines engineering and offshore engineering. According to the main results stated in the executive summary the project has succeeded in this, and thus it is the view of the project partners that the project outcome has aided a development with the potential of preventing erroneous decision-making on large investments in Europe on a technical weak basis.
Potential applications for and End-users of the result:
End-users are designers of offshore wind turbines i.e. manufactures, certifying bodies, writers of standards and regulations, and possibly owners and operators of offshore wind farms.
Innovative features:
Methods of extrapolation have been extensively used in the design of offshore installations for gas and oil exploitation. Here similar methods have been applied to offshore wind turbines with the extra complications that wind and wave loads may contribute equally, making it difficult to neglect just one of them, and the control/safety system of the turbines introduces extra requirements to the numerical simulation scheme. Both these issues have been addressed and proposals for their proper treatment provided.
Scientific aspects of the result:
The focus has been on determining partial safety factors and characteristic values for combined extreme wind and wave load effects in the storm situation. However fatigue loads have also been examined.
Social and commercial aspects of the result:
There has been an immediate need for the project. Currently and over the next few years, the expansion in offshore wind energy, especially in Europe, accelerates and at project start there were no thorough and coherent guidelines for the design of offshore wind power plants. The existing offshore standards are not suitable to cover the offshore wind energy technology.
A combination of these offshore standards and the existing onshore wind energy standards is a very complex process and significant technology gaps exist. One of the major tasks of the project has been the attempt to combine the practices of wind turbines engineering and offshore engineering. According to the main results stated in the executive summary the project has succeeded in this, and thus it is the view of the project partners that the project outcome has aided a development with the potential of preventing erroneous decision-making on large investments in Europe on a technical weak basis.
Potential applications for and End-users of the result:
End-users are designers of offshore wind turbines i.e. manufactures, certifying bodies, writers of standards and regulations, and possibly owners and operators of offshore wind farms.
Innovative features:
As in many other aspects of this project the challenge has been to find a way to combine the tradition of offshore engineering and wind turbine engineering. This has involved a discussion of the level of structural reliability of onshore wind turbines on the one side and the reliability of offshore structures on the other. The outcome of a case study based on the background study for the latest revision of the ISO standard for fixed offshore steel structures and a background study for the latest revision of the IEC 61400-1 Ed. 3 has shown that it is possible to merge the traditions of using 3h reference periods for wave loads and 10 minute reference periods for wind loads as long as the same load partial safety factor, e.g. 1.35, and the same return period are used. Comparison of safety levels suggests, in accordance with the practise regarding exposure levels proposed in the ISO standard, using a return period of 50 years instead of the usual 100 years for offshore structures is allowed. This implies a reduction of costs mainly for the support structure.
Scientific aspects of the result:
At the project outset, there were many uncertainties regarding the offshore environment. Amongst other factors, the effects of waves, wind/wave misalignment and tides, on fatigue and extreme turbine loading were not well understood. Also the effect of the varying the offshore wind turbine configuration in terms of the support structure stiffness was highlighted as requiring investigation.
Social and commercial aspects of the result:
There has been an immediate need for the project. Currently and over the next few years, the expansion in offshore wind energy, especially in Europe, accelerates and at project start there were no thorough and coherent guidelines for the design of offshore wind power plants. The existing offshore standards are not suitable to cover the offshore wind energy technology.
A combination of these offshore standards and the existing onshore wind energy standards is a very complex process and significant technology gaps exist. One of the major tasks of the project has been the attempt to combine the practices of wind turbines engineering and offshore engineering. According to the main results stated in the executive summary the project has succeeded in this, and thus it is the view of the project partners that the project outcome has aided a development with the potential of preventing erroneous decision-making on large investments in Europe on a technical weak basis.
Potential applications for and End users of the result:
End-users are designers of offshore wind turbines i.e. manufactures, certifying bodies, writers of standards and regulations, and possibly owners and operators of offshore wind farms.
Innovative features:
Recommendations resulting from the studies highlighting the factors that are benign and important open the way to far more efficient modelling of the offshore wind turbine.
Scientific aspects of the result:
There have been two conjugated focal points for this result. The first aim has been to investigate further loads than those considered in second, third and fourth results of this project and finally recommend what design load cases to regard for offshore wind turbine design. The other aim was related to the resistance of offshore wind turbines where existing offshore standards were reviewed.
Social and commercial aspects of the result:
There has been an immediate need for the project. Currently and over the next few years, the expansion in offshore wind energy, especially in Europe, accelerates and at project start there were no thorough and coherent guidelines for the design of offshore wind power plants. The existing offshore standards are not suitable to cover the offshore wind energy technology.
A combination of these offshore standards and the existing onshore wind energy standards is a very complex process and significant technology gaps exist. One of the major tasks of the project has been the attempt to combine the practices of wind turbines engineering and offshore engineering. According to the main results stated in the executive summary the project has succeeded in this, and thus it is the view of the project partners that the project outcome has aided a development with the potential of preventing erroneous decision-making on large investments in Europe on a technical weak basis.
Potential applications for and End-users of the result:
End-users are designers of offshore wind turbines i.e. manufactures, certifying bodies, writers of standards and regulations, and possibly owners and operators of offshore wind farms.
Innovative features:
The main outcome of this result is proposals to the design load case table in the draft IEC 61400-3 standard on the one side and on the other side the recommendation that existing offshore standards for material strengths and/or component resistances and/or system resistance may be used for offshore wind turbine design if partial safety factors are used carefully. Specifically the ISO 19902 is recommended when designing fixed steel support structures.
Scientific aspects of the result and innovative features:
A Probabilistic O&M Cost Optimisation model is presented, with which the operation and maintenance strategy of offshore windfarms can be improved. Basis for the application of this model is an extensive analysis of the fault detection and repair cycle offshore. A calculation model has been added. A generic database has been proposed in which O&M information of offshore windfarms can be gathered, processed and presented. The database should be organised, used and maintained by the windfarm owners. An international approach of countries around the North Sea seems most yielding.
Social and commercial aspects of the result:
There has been an immediate need for the project. Currently and over the next few years, the expansion in offshore wind energy, especially in Europe, accelerates and at project start there were no thorough and coherent guidelines for the design of offshore wind power plants. The existing offshore standards are not suitable to cover the offshore wind energy technology.
A combination of these offshore standards and the existing onshore wind energy standards is a very complex process and significant technology gaps exist. One of the major tasks of the project has been the attempt to combine the practices of wind turbines engineering and offshore engineering. According to the main results stated in the executive summary the project has succeeded in this, and thus it is the view of the project partners that the project outcome has aided a development with the potential of preventing erroneous decision-making on large investments in Europe on a technical weak basis.
Potential applications for and End-users of the result:
End-users are designers of offshore wind turbines i.e. manufactures, certifying bodies, and owners and operators of offshore wind farms.
Scientific aspects of the result:
At the project outset, there were many uncertainties regarding the offshore environment for the combined action of wind and waves. Existing standards for offshore purposes have been reviewed and compared in order to provide recommendations relevant for offshore turbines that are subject to wind and waves loads of comparable size.
Social and commercial aspects of the result:
There has been an immediate need for the project. Currently and over the next few years, the expansion in offshore wind energy, especially in Europe, accelerates and at project start there were no thorough and coherent guidelines for the design of offshore wind power plants. The existing offshore standards are not suitable to cover the offshore wind energy technology.
A combination of these offshore standards and the existing onshore wind energy standards is a very complex process and significant technology gaps exist. One of the major tasks of the project has been the attempt to combine the practices of wind turbines engineering and offshore engineering. According to the main results stated in the executive summary the project has succeeded in this, and thus it is the view of the project partners that the project outcome has aided a development with the potential of preventing erroneous decision-making on large investments in Europe on a technical weak basis.
Potential applications for and End users of the result:
End-users are designers of offshore wind turbines i.e. manufactures, certifying bodies, writers of standards and regulations, and possibly owners and operators of offshore wind farms.
Innovative features:
Recommendations regarding environmental models resulting from the review.
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