Research programme
Efficient Support Structure Design through Improved Dynamic Soil Structure Interaction Modelling
Country
The Netherlands
Funding
Dutch Government, TKI Wind op Zee (the Top consortium for Knowledge and Innovation Offshore Wind)- EUR 2.3 million
Project period
October 2013 – August 2016 (34 months)
A lack of knowledge about dynamic soil-structure interaction (DSSI) could be an important bottleneck in the quest to reduce the cost of offshore support structures. Dynamic stiffness and damping in this phenomenon are the main sources of uncertainty in the current support structure design process.
Stiffness has a determining influence on the frequencies of offshore wind turbines, while damping greatly influences fatigue damage accumulation during the lifetime of support structures. Uncertainty in soil behaviour is addressed by making conservative assumptions in soil models which, industry-wide, carry a high potential for significant cost reductions.
Applying new knowledge about DSSI in the design and certification process enables the design of support structures to be improved, and the lifetime of existing support structures to be prolonged significantly. The problem statement for this project is therefore:
The present modelling method for stiffness and damping in dynamic soil-structure interaction used for the design of offshore wind turbine support structures is inadequate and leads to over-conservative designs.
The main objective of the project is to reduce the cost of electricity by enabling the more efficient design of offshore support structures through increased knowledge of dynamic soil structure interaction.
Partners
Siemens Nederland N.V. (Netherlands)
Fugro GeoServices B.V. (Netherlands)
Delft University of Technology (Netherlands)
DNV KEMA Method (Netherlands)
BMO Offshore (Netherlands)
Website: http://tki-windopzee.nl/project/dssi
Fugro Contact: Flip Hoefsloot (f.hoefsloot@fugro.nl)
