Seismic evaluation of offshore wind turbine by geotechnical centrifuge test

Abstract

As offshore wind turbines are now planned to be installed at seismic activity areas around Asia in large numbers, understanding of the seismic behavior of offshore wind turbine has become essential to evade structural hazards due to earthquake. Although the seismic behavior of the structure is largely affected by soil‐foundation‐structure interaction (SFSI), there is only a few experimental data about this subject as conventional offshore wind turbines are mostly located in the area where earthquakes are scarce. Geotechnical centrifuge experiment can provide reliable experimental data for this subject as it can reproduce field stress condition of the soil and simulate earthquake motion in a scaled model test. In this research, three case studies using centrifuge model test were performed to evaluate the seismic behavior of offshore wind turbine during the earthquake and permanent deformation after the earthquake. The results were compared with conventional seismic evaluation methods. Monopile, Monopod, and Tripod foundations were chosen for the experiment. Peak acceleration and rotational displacement of the wind turbine for three cases were evaluated under various intensities of seismic loading applied by centrifuge‐mounted shaking table. Results were compared with conventional evaluation method for design acceleration and conventional rotational displacement criteria suggested in DNV‐OS‐J101.

Vibration and Aerodynamic Analysis and Optimization Design of a Test Centrifuge

“…At present, centrifuges are commonly used for scientific experiments to simulate high-gravity environments [1]. Centrifuges for scientific tests include geotechnical centrifuges [2], manned centrifuges [3], and precision test centrifuges. Centrifuges for scientific tests are a type of equipment that uses a high rotational speed rotating arm to generate a centrifugal force more than several times or even more than ten times that of gravity to simulate the high-gravity environment to which equipment or people are subjected [4,5].…”

Dynamic and monotonic response of Monopile Foundations for Offshore wind turbines using centrifuge testing

“…Early dynamic centrifuge tests were carried out by Yu et al (2015) and Wang et al (2020) looking at uniform deposits of sand with OWTs supported on bucket foundations. Seong et al (2017) and Seong and Kim (2019) investigated the dynamic response of different offshore foundations using dynamic centrifuge modelling. However, this research was on dry uniform soil beds.…”