Numerical model of cumulative damage evolution of offshore wind turbine grouted connection under cyclic axial load

Abstract

GCs in OWTs are exposed to fatigue loads that can lead to damage of the grout before ultimate limit state is reached. A uniaxial and fatigue compression test of high strength grout material were carried out to obtain the compressive strength, failure mode, fatigue life and load-displacement relationship of test cubes. A uniaxial and fatigue tests were carried out on GCs specimens to study the damage evolution of the GCs. The fatigue test on GC was done by applying six incremental amplitude cyclic load ranges of 30%–80% of ultimate load on the GC. The scalar damage degradation parameter (SDEG) from the result of the numerical simulation was used to estimate a damage index which measured the cumulative damage evolution. The cumulative damage evolutions were influenced by the cyclic load amplitude. The larger the load amplitude, the higher the damage index accumulated. The numerical simulation results compared with the DNV code method showed that the DNV code predicted lower damage values for fatigue loads ratio of up to 0.725 and predicted higher damage values beyond the 0.725 loads ratio for the GC. The proposed numerical model predicted the laboratory test results of the grout cube and the grouted connections.