EXCITATION AND DYNAMIC RESPONSES OF JACKET STRUCTURES IN REGULAR WAVES FOR OFFSHORE INSTALLATION

Abstract

The world’s energy supply needs to scope two aims: Securing an ongoing growth in energy demand while gradually shifting to exploitation of renewable energy resources. Since onshore and near shore areas to harvest energy from wind are running short, the focus is laid on concepts for deep water regions ranging from 30 up to 50m with over 6MW. The presented work is a part of the research project HyConCast which progresses the development of a novel, hybrid support structure for offshore wind turbines. Thereby the concept addresses to develop and deploy hybrid offshore wind farm support structures which are based on the advantages of combined ductile iron casting knots and precast concrete pipes. The overall objective of the project is to assess the feasibility and general applicability under design load cases stemming from environmental, eco-logical and economical dimensions. With respect to the distinctly higher total weight of the hybrid structure compared to common steal structures, the results of its so far not understood excitation and dynamic motion response in regular waves during floating installation are researched and discussed in the following article.