Semi‐Submersible Wind Turbine Operational Safety, by Gaidai Multidimensional Structural Reliability Assessment Method

Abstract

ABSTRACT Purpose Importance of discovering clean, renewable energy sources, rather than being dependent on the world's finite hydrocarbon resources is growing. As a result, wind power, especially offshore wind, is an alternative gaining popularity these days. Today's offshore wind energy sector depends on robust and resilient structural design, given increased operational risks due to ambient wave loads. Floating Offshore Wind Turbines (FOWT) produce clean, renewable energy—moreover, FOWT sizes, efficiency and power output are steadily increasing. The current study has aimed to validate a novel multimodal approach for structural risk assessment, facilitating the effective extraction of pertinent statistical information from even relatively limited underlying non‐stationary datasets. Methods Excessive structural dynamics may result in either progressive or rapid structural damage, as well as accumulated fatigue damage, mostly caused by environmental in situ loads. Hydrodynamic and aerodynamic environmental covariates have been accounted for within FAST‐coupled nonlinear aero‐hydro‐servo‐elasticity software. Results The current study's methodology aimed to assist designers in assessing hazards and failure risks for complex nonlinear multimodal dynamic wind energy systems, including cases with initial manufacturing imperfections. Novelty A practical engineering design example was used to demonstrate efficiency and verify the advocated state‐of‐the‐art multimodal structural risk assessment approach. Conclusions The proposed state‐of‐the‐art multimodal structural reliability method might be beneficial for a wide range of offshore engineering applications requiring robust, durable and safe design.