A Review of Challenges and Opportunities Associated with Bolted Flange Connections in the Offshore Wind Industry

Mehmanparast, Ali; Lotfian, Saeid; Vipin, Sukumara Pillai

doi:10.3390/met10060732

Cited by 29 publications

(11 citation statements)

References 51 publications

(60 reference statements)

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“…As shown in Figure 19, the maximum von Mises stress in normal conditions is 102.7 MPa, while it is 490.2 MPa in extreme conditions. This may be due to the fact that there is a bolted flange connection in this model [81]. Consequently, as the tower and the transition part only lean on each other and are only linked by bolts, the maximum stresses will be at the contact surface, close to the holes.…”

Section: Design 3 Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Analysing the Influential Parameters on the Monopile Foundation of an Offshore Wind Turbine

et al. 2021

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Countries around the world generate electricity from renewable resources to decarbonise their societies and reduce global warming. Some countries have already outlined their wishes to produce a part of their total energy consumption from renewable sources in the coming years and gradually reduce the use of nuclear energy and fossil fuel in favour of cleaner fuels. While renewable energies are significant factors in tackling climate change, the parameters that can influence their performance should be analysed in detail during the design process. One of these parameters is the foundation of an offshore wind turbine. Offshore wind turbines allow more energy to be produced than an onshore installation, and do not have any harmful effects on human beings, while their geotechnical aspects need to be clearly determined in advance. In this study, the influential parameters such as soil type, the number of bolts in the design, and the size of the structure were analysed using the finite element method for three different designs. The simulations showed that some soil properties, such as cohesion, do not influence the results, while Young’s modulus has a large influence on the designs. Additionally, the results of this study showed that the maximum stress concentrations are at the bolts and connection joints where they are too close to the steel’s yield stress. It also proves that the non-elastic behaviour of the soil does not require to be assigned for such analyses and it can be simplified only with its elastic behaviour. The embedded length affects the lateral displacement, while the number of bolts influences the structure’s resistance to external loads.

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Section: Design 3 Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Analysing the Influential Parameters on the Monopile Foundation of an Offshore Wind Turbine

et al. 2021

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“…Numerous other works also address the issue of structural optimization considering structural stresses [49,50], the stresses in large diameter flanges in the primary load path of wind turbine foundations, usually found at the base of turbine towers [51]. The new design of floating hybrid platforms will reduce the cost of the overall system due to faster erection and less amount of steel.…”

Section: Offshore Wind Turbine Developmentmentioning

confidence: 99%

Wind Turbine Technology Trends

et al. 2022

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The rise in prices of traditional energy sources, the high dependence of many countries on their import, and the associated need for security of supply have led to large investments in new capacity of wind power plants. Although wind power generation is a mature technology and levelized cost of electricity low, there is still room for its improvement. A review of available literature has indicated that wind turbine development in the coming decade will be based on upscaling wind turbines and minor design improvements. These include further improvements in rotor blade aerodynamics, active control of the rotor blade rotation system, and aerodynamic brakes that will lead to increased power generation efficiency. Improvements in system maintenance and early diagnosis of transmission and power-related faults and blade surface damage will reduce wind turbine downtime and increase system reliability and availability. The manufacture of wind turbines with larger dimensions presents problems of transportation and assembly, which are being addressed by manufacturing the blades from segments. Numerical analysis is increasingly being used both in wind turbine efficiency analysis and in stress and vibration analysis. Direct drive is becoming more competitive with traditional power transmission through a gearbox. The trend in offshore wind farms is to increase the size of wind turbines and to place them farther from the coast and in deeper water, which requires new forms of floating foundations. Due to the different work requirements and more difficult conditions of the marine environment, optimization methods for the construction of offshore substructures are currently being developed. There are plans to use 66-kV cables for power transmission from offshore wind farms instead of the current 33-kV cables. Offshore wind farms can play an important role in the transition to a hydrogen economy. In this context, significant capacity is planned for the production of “green” hydrogen by electrolysis from water. First-generation wind turbines are nearing the end of their service life, so strategies are being developed to repower them, extend their life or dismantle and recycle them.

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“…Due to the stress concentration around the flange, many fatigue cracks have been found around the flange connections of the inland wind turbines, see Figure 2. Offshore FWTs suffer from more severe environmental loadings, thus more attentions should be paid on their design of flange connections (Mehmanparast et al, 2020).…”

Section: Floating Wind Turbines and Flangesmentioning

confidence: 99%

The impact of initial imperfections on the fatigue assessment of tower flange connections in floating wind turbines: A review

Zou

Niu

et al. 2022

Front. Mar. Sci.

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During the massive manufactures and installations of fixed offshore wind turbines in China, initial imperfections were often found in the inspection. As more and more attentions and efforts of the wind energy sector have been devoted to deep waters with fixed and floating wind turbines (FWTs), the impact of such initial imperfections on fatigue assessment is paramount to the reliable design and safe operation, which warrant rigorous study. This paper presents a comprehensive review of three different initial imperfections and their impacts on the fatigue lifetime of FWTs’ tower flange connections. A brief introduction on FWTs and flange connections is provided at first. This is followed by a detailed discussion of the environmental loadings and fatigue assessment on the flange bolted connections. Finally, a comprehensive review of the state-of-art research on three common initial imperfections, including flatness divergence, bolt loosening and tower inclination, are presented. Their impact on fatigue assessment is further discussed.

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A Review of Challenges and Opportunities Associated with Bolted Flange Connections in the Offshore Wind Industry

Cited by 29 publications

References 51 publications

Analysing the Influential Parameters on the Monopile Foundation of an Offshore Wind Turbine

Analysing the Influential Parameters on the Monopile Foundation of an Offshore Wind Turbine

Wind Turbine Technology Trends

The impact of initial imperfections on the fatigue assessment of tower flange connections in floating wind turbines: A review

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