Ship Impact Behavior on Jacket Type Offshore Wind Turbine Foundation

Jacket is an ideal supporting structure for large 4 to 6 MW offshore wind turbine (OWT) in deep sea. However, Due to the harsh marine environment, as well as offshore wind farms are mostly located near a busy waterway, it is inevitable that ships crash offshore wind power structures. Sometimes, collision accidents may result in severe damage in the support structure. To study the collision behavior of jacket offshore structure, dynamic characteristics of the jacket OWT foundation is analyzed in this paper, based on ADINA explicit dynamic analysis method, considering different ship speed, impact locations and joint thickness. Based on the numerical results, the joints are reinforced in special location to meet requirements. Structural performances of jacket type OWT foundation under ship impact are studied. The research results in the paper can provide the reference for practical engineering design.Copyright © 2014 by ASME