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A master's thesis from Aalborg University
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Numerical Seismic Response Analysis of an Offshore Wind Turbine Foundation

Translated title

Numerisk Seismisk Respons Analyse af et Havvindmøllefundament

Authors

; ;

Term

4. term

Publication year

2022

Submitted on

Pages

246

Abstract

Offshore vindmølleparker planlægges i stigende grad i jordskælvsudsatte områder. Under et kraftigt jordskælv kan rystelserne sætte en vindmølle i bevægelse og i nogle tilfælde få vandmættede havbundsjorde til midlertidigt at miste styrke (jordflydning). Fordi en vindmølle har et slankt tårn og tunge, roterende dele i toppen, skal fundamentet dimensioneres til at klare denne kombinerede påvirkning. Denne afhandling sammenligner praktiske jordskælvsanalyseprocedurer fra to regelsæt: EN 1998-1 og DNV-RP-0585 (en brancherettelinje for offshore vindmøller). Først anvendes EN 1998-1-procedurerne på en enkel todimensional fleretages bygning for at illustrere og sammenligne metoderne. Derefter undersøges et fundament til en offshore vindmølle i Japan efter DNV-RP-0585. Fundamentet modelleres som en jacketkonstruktion—en stålgitterramme understøttet af pæle nedrammet i havbunden—i tre varianter med stigende kompleksitet. Den enkleste model bygger på grove antagelser om samspillet mellem jord og konstruktion, mens den mest detaljerede model inkluderer et eksplicit jordvolumen. Der udføres ikke-lineære dynamiske simuleringer i SeismoStruct og Plaxis for at vurdere, hvordan fundamentet reagerer på jordskælvsbelastning. Desuden opbygges en avanceret jordprofil i DeepSoil til en Site Seismic Response Analysis (SSRA), som estimerer, hvordan jordbevægelser og jordstivhed varierer med dybden, og disse resultater anvendes i fundamentmodellerne. Til sidst vurderes, hvornår jordflydning kan initieres, ved at sammenligne en simpel tilgang med en avanceret liquefaction-model.

Offshore wind farms are increasingly planned in earthquake-prone areas. During a strong earthquake, ground shaking can move a wind turbine and, in some cases, make water-saturated seabed soils temporarily lose strength (soil liquefaction). Because a turbine has a slender tower and heavy rotating parts at the top, its foundation must be designed to cope with this combined hazard. This thesis compares practical earthquake analysis procedures from two standards: EN 1998-1 and DNV-RP-0585 (an industry guideline for offshore wind turbines). First, we apply the EN 1998-1 procedures to a simple two-dimensional multi-storey building to illustrate and compare the methods. Then we study an offshore wind turbine foundation in Japan using the DNV-RP-0585 procedures. The foundation is modeled as a jacket structure—a steel lattice frame supported by piles driven into the seabed—in three versions of increasing complexity. The simplest model uses coarse assumptions for soil–structure interaction; the most detailed model includes an explicit soil volume. We run non-linear dynamic simulations in SeismoStruct and Plaxis to evaluate how the foundation responds to earthquake loading. We also build an advanced soil profile in DeepSoil to perform a Site Seismic Response Analysis (SSRA), which estimates how ground motions and soil stiffness vary with depth, and feed these results into the foundation models. Finally, we assess when soil liquefaction may initiate by comparing a simple approach with an advanced liquefaction model.

[This abstract was generated with the help of AI]