Articles | Volume 2, issue 2
https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-2-469-2017
https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-2-469-2017
Brief communication
 | 
12 Sep 2017
Brief communication |  | 12 Sep 2017

Brief communication: Structural monitoring for lifetime extension of offshore wind monopiles: can strain measurements at one level tell us everything?

Lisa Ziegler, Ursula Smolka, Nicolai Cosack, and Michael Muskulus

Abstract. Operators need accurate knowledge on structural reserves to decide about lifetime extension of offshore wind turbines. Load monitoring enables us to directly compare design loads with real loading histories of the support structure in order to calculate its remaining useful lifetime. Monitoring of every hot spot is technically and financially not feasible. This paper presents a novel idea for load monitoring of monopiles. It requires strain measurements at only one level convenient for sensor installation, such as tower bottom. Measurements are converted into damage equivalent loads for 10 min time intervals. Damage equivalent loads are extrapolated to other locations of the structure with a simulation model and statistical algorithm. For this, structural loads at all locations of the monopile are calculated with aero-hydro-elastic software and updated finite element models. Damage equivalent loads at unmeasured locations are predicted from the simulation results with a k-nearest neighbor regression algorithm. The extrapolation was tested with numerical simulations of an 8 MW offshore wind turbine. Results show that damage can be predicted with an error of 1–3 % if this is done conditional on mean wind speed, which is very promising. The load monitoring concept is simple, cheap and easy to implement. This makes it ideal for making decisions on lifetime extension of monopiles.

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Short summary
The first larger offshore wind farms are reaching a mature age. Operators have to take actions for monitoring now in order to have accurate knowledge on structural reserves later. This knowledge is important to make decisions on lifetime extension. Many offshore wind turbines have one set of strain gauges already installed at the transition piece. We present a simple and robust method to extrapolate these measurements to other locations of the monopile without need of additional instrumentation.
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