Abstract
Offshore wind power provides a new kind of green energy. This paper presents a comparison study on the structural properties of monopile and tripod wind-turbine support structures, which are used extensively in offshore wind farms. Both structures have the same upper tower, but different lower structures, one with a monopile and the other with a tripod. Static, fatigue, and modal analyses indicate that both the tripod and monopile structures are feasible in the field, but that the tripod structure is superior to the monopile structure. Static analysis reveals that the location of maximum stress in the monopile structure is different from that in the tripod structure, and that the tripod structure shows higher stiffness and greater stress-control capacity than the monopile structure. Fatigue analysis indicates that the tripod structure has a longer lifetime than the monopile structure. Modal analysis indicates that the two structures exhibit large differences in their natural frequencies. Unlike the monopile structure, the third and first modes both have a substantial influence on the dynamic response of the tripod structure.
Highlights
In recent years, clean energy strategies have been given great importance in environment protection and durable development
(1) The maximum stress in the monopile structure was at the base, whereas the transition location from the lower central column to upper tower showed the maximum stress for the tripod structure
(2) Under the same cyclic loading, the tripod structure has a longer lifetime than the monopile structure
Summary
Clean energy strategies have been given great importance in environment protection and durable development. The substructure is used to anchor the support structure to the seabed and typically belongs to one of six types: gravity, monopile, tripod, jacket, suction, and floating foundation [2, 3]. Compared with monopile and tripod foundations, the grouped pile foundation involves more complex construction and higher cost. Given these points, to provide a reference for foundation-type selection, this paper presents a study on a support structure where the lower support structure is designed as a monopile or tripod structure, but the upper one remains the traditional tower structure. Fatigue, and modal analysis using the SOLIDWORKS2012 general FEM software were compared between monopile and tripod structures
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