Joint earthquake and wave action on the monopile wind turbine foundation: An experimental study

Abstract

Offshore wind turbines in regions of active seismicity are under a potential threat caused by the joint earthquake and ocean wave action. Taking NREL-5MW monopile wind turbine as the prototype, this study is devoted to probe the joint action of strong earthquakes and moderate sea conditions. A series of shake table model tests of scale 30:1 have been carried out by the contemporary world unique facility (Earthquake, Wave and Current Joint Simulation System) to investigate the structural response in dry flume, low and high calm water levels, with and without regular or random waves. Particular interest has been in the nacelle acceleration subjected to strong ground motions as well as to random waves. The experimental results of nacelle peak accelerations and corresponding dynamic amplification factors show that the joint earthquake and wave action is important for the proper evaluation of structural response. Ignoring the effect of wave action in seismic analysis will lead to underestimation of structural response, especially when the monopile foundation is dynamically sensitive. The coupling of earthquake and wave actions is sourced not only from the relative velocity of vibration but also from the initial condition induced by waves. It has been also derived that the peak acceleration excited by a moderate sea condition is comparable to that by a moderate earthquake.