Coupled analysis of monopile offshore wind turbine under modified three-dimensional seafloor ground motions

Abstract

The safe operation of offshore wind turbines (OWTs) is significantly influenced by the combined effect of wind, waves, and offshore earthquakes. However, limited seafloor ground motion data have been used to determine the dynamic characteristics and responses of OWTs subjected to offshore earthquakes. Hence, synthetic seafloor ground motions are particularly important for seismic analysis of OWTs. This paper proposes a new method to simulate seafloor ground motions. In the study, the dynamic shear modulus of the water-bearing soil layer and the damping effect of the soil–seawater layers were introduced to modify the simple Crouse and Quilter (C-Q) model in seawater and P-SV and SH transfer function models at offshore sites. Further, three-dimensional seismic waves were synthesized based on the modified transfer function models at a typical offshore site with bedrock–soil–seawater layers, and a fully coupled numerical analysis model of OWTs, including the rotor nacelle assembly, tower structure, and substructure with pile–soil interaction (PSI) under wind, wave, and seafloor ground motion, was established by incorporating the earthquake module and PSI module into the updated FAST v8 software. Moreover, based on the established coupled OWT model, the measured seafloor ground motion records and the seafloor ground motions synthesized using the proposed method were compared, and a coupled analysis of the OWT under wind, wave, and offshore earthquake loadings was carried out. Furthermore, the coupled mechanisms of the OWT under synthesized and recorded seafloor ground motions were determined.