Design Considerations for Offshore Wind Energy Support Structures

Design of offshore wind farm substructures and foundations require several considerations. Constant soil-structure and structure-environment (wave and wind) interaction calls for comprehensive understanding of structural behavior under complex loading patterns. Due to the dynamics of the Wind Turbine Generator (WTG), dynamic response of the substructure and foundation should fall in pre-defined, narrow band response spectrum. Procurement and fabrication of these structures is another limiting constraint to consider in the design process. Availability and limitations of manufacturers and simplicity of construction are critical parameters in the successful design process. Most of the structural components need to be transported to the installation site in the sea and then installed with specialized marine vessels. Both the transportation and installation of offshore wind farm substructures and foundations utilize expensive marine equipment and the offshore processes are weather limited. Keystone Engineering’s Inward Battered Guided Structure (IBGS) provides an optimum solution to the challenges of design, manufacturing, transportation and installation in a range of shelf water depths. Flexible design configurations provide freedom for the designer to add or remove elements without loss of structural integrity, to allow adjustment adjust for resonance response avoidance. Efficiency is achieved in manufacturing by reducing the number of members and weldments and thus, minimizing the lifts of subassemblies. Ease of transportation with marine vessels is improved by reducing the footprint space requirements and the choreographed installation procedure can lower the vessel charter costs significantly. These design considerations make IBGS an efficient choice for substructure and foundation of offshore wind farms.

• Record URL:
  • https://doi.org/10.1061/9780784479117.150
• Availability:
  • Find a library where document is available. Order URL: http://worldcat.org/isbn/9780784479117
• Supplemental Notes:
  • © 2015 American Society of Civil Engineers.
• Corporate Authors:

  American Society of Civil Engineers

  1801 Alexander Bell Drive
  Reston, VA  United States  20191-4400
• Authors:
  • Zarafshan, Ali
  • Hall, Rudy
• Conference:
  • Structures Congress 2015
  • Location: Portland Oregon, United States
  • Date: 2015-4-23 to 2015-4-25
• Publication Date: 2015-4

Language

• English

Media Info

• Media Type: Web
• Pagination: pp 1741-1747
• Monograph Title: Structures Congress 2015

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Costs; Design; Offshore structures; Ships; Soil structure interaction; Wind power generation
• Subject Areas: Design; Energy; Marine Transportation; I20: Design and Planning of Transport Infrastructure;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01562470
• Record Type: Publication
• ISBN: 9780784479117
• Files: TRIS, ASCE
• Created Date: Apr 29 2015 9:07AM