Abstract
In the present work, a crashworthy device for a monopile offshore wind turbine has been proposed, which consists of the inner two-layer rubber torus and the outer thin steel shell. The performance of the crashworthy device against ship impact has been investigated experimentally. Based on the prototype of a 4 MW monopile wind turbine in the East China Sea, the scale ratio of the test model has been designed to be 1/50. The test ship model has been simplified as a “rigid car” equipped with a high-frequency force sensor in the front, which is available for changing the ship mass with different weights. The ship-impact velocity can be accurately controlled by a motion platform driven by a direct current machine. The effect of the key design parameters of the crashworthy device on its anti-impact performance has been tested and compared under typical ship impact cases. The results indicate that the crashworthy device can effectively reduce both the ship impact force and the top nacelle acceleration, and the physical mechanism that has been clarified. The outer thin steel shell can significantly use its structural deformation to absorb the ship impact energy, which is beneficial for reducing the structural damage of the offshore wind turbine (OWT)’s tower. The inner rubber torus can effectively prolong the ship impact duration, which is available for smoothing the impact force. Finally, the porous design for the outer steel shell of the crashworthy device has been proposed and tested.
Highlights
Offshore wind energy, as one of the most promising renewable energies, has been paid more and more attention due to its own special advantages [1].Many countries have accumulated some technical and operational experience with offshore wind farms
The offshore wind turbine is a typical kind of towering structure with a heavy “head”, so the severe dynamic response of the top structure is caused by ship impacts
A crashworthy device for the monopile offshore wind turbine against ship impacts has been proposed, which consists of the inner rubber torus and the outer thin steel shell
Summary
Many countries (especially in Europe) have accumulated some technical and operational experience with offshore wind farms. In China, a large number of offshore wind farms have been built or will be established in the East China Sea. As the scale of the offshore wind farm extends, the risk of impact between ships and offshore wind turbine (OWT) structures will increase [2]. The offshore wind turbine is a typical kind of towering structure with a heavy “head”, so the severe dynamic response of the top structure is caused by ship impacts. The large deformation of the impacted OWT tower may result in the overall instability of the whole OWT structure, which would be catastrophic. Some researchers pointed out the importance of the study on the ship-OWT impact
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