Directional Bending Performance of 4-Leg Jacket Substructure Supporting a 3MW Offshore Wind Turbine

Abstract

A comprehensive investigation of the directional bending performance of a 4-leg jacket substructure, supporting a 3 MW offshore wind turbine, has been carried out in this study. The jacket substructure with a Pratt bracing system which is already installed in the southwest offshore wind farm in South Korea has been chosen as a reference support structure. A numerical model of the 3MW support structure (i.e., tower, transition piece, and jacket structure) is configured, and its structural performances are evaluated under the conditions of (1) extreme environmental loads (Env), (2) critical Design Load Cases (DLCs), and (3) a total of 288 combined load cases (CBs). For the case of Env (i.e., wind, wave, and current loads), loading directions varying from 0° to 360° at intervals of 15° are considered. The DLCs are provided from the 3 MW wind turbine manufacturer, in a 6 × 12 matrix format. The selected 4-leg jacket substructure in this study showed the smallest bending stiffness at the loading angles of 135° and 315° under the condition of Env, and at the loading angles between 105° and 150° under the CBs. From these results, critical bending directionality of the 4-leg jacket substructure is identified. This study also found that the effects of Env loads are not small compared to the total structural responses of the 4-leg jacket substructure which is supporting a 3 MW offshore wind turbine.