Dynamic Analysis of Offshore Wind Turbine Supported by Jacket Substructure under Wind and Wave Loading

Burning of fossil fuel for the production of energy causes severe global warming effects. Renewable energy sources like solar, wind and tidal etc. are the alternative renewable energy sources which contribute in the reduction of adverse global warming effects. Wind turbines are being used for extracting wind energy from several years. Wind blow is continuous with limited disturbance in the offshore region when compared with main land. Offshore wind energy extraction is in research stage at many locations and implemented in European countries. Prediction of response of wind turbine supporting systems is essential in the design to withstand the environmental loads such as wind, wave, current and seismic etc. In the present study, a horizontal axis offshore wind turbine (HAWT) supported on an offshore jacket structure is considered and the response studies are performed. The jacket is considered at a water depth of 51m, thus total height of the jacket is 61m with a free board of 10m.
A wind turbine of 5MW capacity is considered to be on top of jacket structure. The height of the wind tower is assumed as 70m, and a transition structure of 4m height is positioned in between jacket and tower. A free vibration analysis is performed to estimate the natural frequencies and mode shapes of the jacket supported wind turbine. The modal analysis is carried out using ANSYS static structural module.
The response analysis under wind, wave, current and aerodynamic drag loads is performed using SACS 13.2 software. Wind force is estimated based on API 2005 provisions. The aerodynamic forces on the wind turbine blades are evaluated using Betz Theory. Wave loading is calculated using Morison equation and linear Airy’s wave theory. A parametric study is carried out by varying wave period from 6s to 20s. As the structure is symmetric about longitudinal and lateral directions, a wave directional analysis is also carried by considering 0o and 45o wave directions. The structural responses are studied for the combined wind, wave and current loads. Cut-in, rated, cut-out and storm conditions are simulated by modelling wind and aerodynamic loads on the tower, wind interacting area of the jacket and blades. Wave period and direction are varied to simulate different wave conditions. It is observed that the structural response is increasing as the wind velocity is increasing and wave period is decreasing.