A simulation exploration on the grounding characteristic of monopile foundation offshore wind turbines

Abstract

An exploration on the grounding characteristic of monopile foundation offshore wind turbines (WTs) is carried out in this paper by using the Grounding System Safe Analysis Software (GSSAS). A basic description is given for the structural feature of the monopile foundation. The discretization model is built for the monopile foundation by subdividing its continuous shell body into a discrete multiconductor system. The simulation computation is performed for analyzing the actual factors influencing the grounding resistance, including the seawater depth, thickness of clay layer, and resistivity of gravel layer. It is found from the simulation computation that the grounding resistance is mainly influenced by the seawater depth. Then, the result obtained from the software GSSAS is also compared with that from the software current distribution, electromagnetic fields, grounding and soil structure analysis for checking the validity of the GSSAS simulation in the exploration of grounding characteristic of offshore WTs.