Lifetime extension for large offshore wind farms: Is it enough to reassess fatigue for selected design positions?

Abstract

Fatigue reassessment within the decision process of lifetime extension might be uneconomical when individually performed for each turbine of a large offshore wind farm. This paper analyses the possibilities to extrapolate results from fatigue reassessment of wind turbines at selected design positions to other wind turbines of the wind farm. Five monopile-based turbines placed in a generic offshore wind farm were assessed with integrated aero-hydro-elastic simulations. A fatigue assessment was performed for each out of the five selected turbines using site specific environmental data commonly available during the design process. The results were compared to a fatigue reassessment where environmental data were modified in order to account for changes in environmental conditions during the service lifetime of the wind turbines. Results indicate that an extrapolation is feasible for selected parameters when changes in environmental conditions are small. This is an important step towards an effective and efficient assessment methodology for lifetime extension of offshore wind turbines.